UAE's Aabar Investments in $800m loan agreement

UAE'S Aabar Investments, which has stakes in Daimler and Virgin Galactic, on Sunday said it entered into a $800m loan agreement with local and international lenders.

International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), wholly-owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, is the majority shareholder in Abu Dhabi-listed Aabar, which is the emirate's fastest growing investment vehicle.

The club loan is for three years and will be used for general and corporate purposes, Aabar said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi bourse without giving further details.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi is the lead arranger of the loan, a banker involved in the transaction told Reuters, declining to name the other banks.

"The details are not clear but it could be they are trying to refinance debt that is maturing," said Deepak Tolani, an analyst at Al Mal Capital.

Aabar has a $1.625bn club loan from banks maturing this month, while another loan secured by Aabar through pledging Daimler shares matures this year.

Aabar's borrowings, all term loans, stood at Dh15bn ($4bn) in December 2009.

Last month, Aabar said it plans to issue convertible bonds worth Dh7.346bn ($2bn) to IPIC, which holds a 71 per cent stake in Aabar.

In March, Aabar said its assets had grown to $10bn from $625m prior to its acquisition by IPIC.

The investment firm had posted a leap in net profit in the first quarter to Dh1.58bn mainly due to derivatives income, after revising its year-ago result to a deep loss.

Aabar's shares were trading down 0.5 per cent at 0847 GMT on the Abu Dhabi bourse Sunday.