Norton Rose Fulbright advises a syndicate of lenders in Bahrain

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the mandated lead arrangers in relation to a multicurrency USD215,000,000 term facility and USD20,000,000 revolving facility to Hassan Mohamed Jawad & Sons B.S.C. (c) a Bahrain-based family owned trading conglomerate with operations across the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

Mashreqbank PSC led the bank syndicate with Ahli United Bank (B.S.C.) and First Gulf Bank PJSC acting as co-arrangers. National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC, Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait K.P.S.C. BBK B.S.C. and State Bank of India also participated in the syndicate. Various subsidiaries of the Jawad group in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar provided guarantees and securities in relation to the facilities. The purpose of the facilities was to refinance and consolidate the existing indebtedness of Jawad group and to fund the capital expenditure and working capital requirements of the entire group.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by partner Matthew Escritt assisted by senior associate Martin Botik, associate David Tan and paralegal Sayed Abushark, all based in Dubai.

Bahrain and Kuwait law advice was provided by ASAR – Al Ruwayeh & Partners and Al Tamimi & Co, Doha office advised on the Qatar law aspects.

Matthew Escritt, banking partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Dubai commented, “We are delighted to have been able to support Mashreqbank and Jawad, in delivering a complex multi-jurisdictional transaction to the market within a very tight timeframe. This is the second time in two years that we have had the pleasure of working with this borrower and is the latest in a series of transactions originating from Bahrain on which we have acted. These transactions are a testament to the continued resilience of Bahrain’s economy and our commitment to this market.”