Limitless said to get sixth extension on $1.2bn loan

Limitless LLC received a sixth extension on a $1.2 billion loan as the real-estate developer controlled by state-owned Dubai World works on a restructuring plan, two bankers familiar with the plan said.

The extension is conditional on talks between Limitless and creditors making sufficient progress, with January 31 set as a deadline for a deal to be reached, one of the bankers said, declining to be identified because the information is private. The last extension on the syndicated loan expired on September 30.

“Private discussions continue with our lenders,” Limitless said in an e-mailed response to questions. The Islamic loan, originally maturing in March last year, got two three- month, one six-month, one four-month and one two-month extensions.

Limitless, whose projects include the mixed-use Downtown Jebel Ali development in Dubai and another development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, raised the loan in dollars and United Arab Emirates dirhams in 2008 from a group of 18 banks, according to a company statement at the time. Emirates NBD PJSC and National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC helped raise the loan, while Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) was among the lenders.

A spokesman for Emirates NBD, the UAE’s biggest bank by assets, declined to comment as did a spokeswoman for Royal Bank of Scotland. An official at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s second-biggest bank, couldn’t immediately be reached.

Limitless is seeking to extend the tenor of the loan by four to five years and plans to pay no interest over that period, two bankers familiar with the deal said on August 8. Interest on the loan will accrue and be repaid along with principal when the loan matures, they said at the time.

The developer has cash that it plans to use to fund property developments in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, one of the bankers said, without providing a specific amount. The lenders are seeking to use the funds to pay interest, the banker said.