National Bank of Egypt close to finalise $1 billion to refinance debt – sources

The National Bank of Egypt, the country’s largest public lender, is close to finalising a $1 billion loan from a group of banks, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
NBE has upsized and tightened pricing on the three-year facility that will be partly used to refinance existing debt, the people added, asking not to be identified because the information is still private.
The lender is seeking to narrow the margin to 230 points from 270 basis points, they said.
NBE was initially planning to raise $750 million from a small group of banks but strong demand drove it to increase the amount, the people further said. Fourteen lenders are taking part in the deal, they added.
While declining to comment on the specifics of the transaction, Hesham Elsafty – head of financial institutions and international financial services at NBE – told Bloomberg it was timed “to take advantage of the preferential market and interest-rate conditions currently prevailing.”