ABU DHABI: UAE'S Aabar Investments, which has stakes in Daimler and Virgin Galactic, on Sunday said it entered into a $800 million 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 $1.625 billion 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 AED 15 billion ($4 billion) in December 2009. Last month, Aabar said it plans to issue convertible bonds worth AED 7.346 billion ($2 billion) to IPIC, which holds a 71 percent stake in Aabar. In March, Aabar said its assets had grown to $10 billion from $625 million prior to its acquisition by IPIC. The investment firm had posted a leap in net profit in the first quarter to AED 1.58 billion mainly due to derivatives income, after revising its year-ago result to a deep loss. Aabar's shares were trading down 0.5 percent at 0847 GMT on the Abu Dhabi bourse Sunday.
