Dubai Sheikh's Buyout Firm Is Said to Reach $1 Billion Debt Deal
Dubai Sheikh's Buyout Firm Is Said to Reach $1 Billion Debt Deal
(Bloomberg) -- Dubai International Capital LLC reached an agreement with banks to roll over a loan of about $1 billion, according to three people familiar with the plan.
The private-equity firm owned by the emirate’s ruler plans to extend the loan for three years and sign the agreement in the next few weeks, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It’s the second time the firm is restructuring the loan.
Banks are also asking DIC’s parent Dubai Holding LLC to pay $150 million under a payment guarantee as part of the first restructuring in 2012, the people said.
At the height of the emirate’s boom years, DIC amassed assets worth about $13 billion, including the owner of London’s Madame Tussauds waxworks museum, as well as stakes in Sony Corp. and Daimler AG. The firm was later forced to sell most of these assets and reschedule $2.5 billion of debt after the global financial crisis froze credit markets and prices slumped.
DIC’s debt has now shrunk to about $1 billion after it recently sold holdings, including stakes in German alumina products-maker Almatis GmbH and packaging company Mauser AG.
DIC made some payments to banks over the past few weeks after selling its stake in aircraft leasing company Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd., according to two of the people. Moelis & Co. is advising DIC in the talks, while Deloitte LLP is advising banks, the people said.
DIC plans to sell its stake in its only remaining asset -- U.K.-based engineering firm Doncasters Group Ltd. -- to repay almost $1 billion to creditors before halting operations, people familiar said last year. The company abandoned talks with Beijing Xinwei amid indications from U.S. officials that they wouldn’t approve the takeover, Sky News reported in April.
Spokesmen for DIC and Moelis declined to comment. A spokesman for Deloitte didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
To contact the reporters on this story: Arif Sharif in Dubai at asharif2@bloomberg.net, Archana Narayanan in Dubai at anarayanan16@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Stefania Bianchi, Claudia Maedler
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