National Bank of Fujairah gets Dh772m refinancing loan

Dubai: National Bank of Fujairah borrowed Dh772m ($210m) from a group of 12 banks to refinance debt and enable it to lend more.

National Bank initially sought a three-year loan of $150 million, then increased it after banks led by Commerzbank AG agreed to lend more, it said in a statement.

National Bank, in which Fujairah emirate owns a 39 percent stake and Dubai owns 10 percent, on May 13 said first-quarter profit fell 31 percent to $15 million as its investment income declined.

The bank has a $130 million loan maturing in December that pays interest of 0.3 percentage point more than benchmark rates, and 100 million dirhams ($27 million) of bonds outstanding, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Banks that contributed to the new loan include Arab Bank Plc, Bayerische Landesbank, Standard Chartered Plc and Wachovia Corp., according to the statement.