JEDDAH – Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Ma'aden), which has an aluminum joint venture with Alcoa, raised SR9 billion ($2.4 billion) through an Islamic loan facility to help fund its future projects, it said in a statement Tuesday. The murabaha-structured revolving credit facility has a life of five years and was increased from the SR7 billion initial target amount which the bank announced in June, Ma'aden said. A murabaha is a Shariah-compliant cost-plus-profit arrangement. “We are very pleased with the outcome of this transaction, particularly that the company was able to achieve very competitive terms despite a busy financing calendar. It is testament to the bank market's confidence in the company and its ability to deliver on its growth strategy. Going forward, Ma'aden will be looking to further diversify its financing sources to support our growth plans in the medium to long term and to optimize our sources and costs of funding,” Khalid Al-Mudaifer, President and CEO of Ma'aden said. “Today marks an important step for Ma'aden in the execution of our funding strategy. We are particularly proud of the level of support that we have received from the financial community. This support provides us with the flexibility we need to move forward on a number of investment plans across our diverse portfolio,” said Khalid Al Rowais, Vice President of Finance for Ma'aden. In all, commitments from the banks covered the facility's final amount by 2.5-times, the statement said. Ma'aden runs Saudi Arabia's first aluminum smelter, in a joint venture with US-based Alcoa. The Saudi firm said late last month the plant would not reach full capacity on schedule due to power supply issues. In March, Ma'aden outlined plans to add a new production line, with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year, at its aluminum joint venture to produce sheets used in the automotive and construction industries. The subscribing banks for Islamic loan were National Commercial Bank, Samba Financial, Riyad Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Saudi British Bank (SABB), Al Rajhi, Bank Al Jazira, J.P. Morgan Chase, Arab National Bank, Bank Al Bilad, and Saudi Investment Bank. — SG
