MUSCAT: Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) announced 200 million dollars refinancing for National Petroleum services with the union of HSBC, Emirates NBD and Al Hilal Bank. The refinancing is for a $150 million fixed rate Islamic facility and a working capital facility of $50 million.
National Petroleum Services will use the refinancing to restructure their existing debt and working capital facilities. The arrangement offers the company better terms and will positively impact the company’s bottomline.
National Petroleum Services is one of the largest regionally owned oil and gas providers in the Middle East delivering drilling, customised well services and support to customers across the Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia. Its operations include well services, wireline logging, well testing, and integrated drilling. National Petroleum Services employs around 1,500 people and operates in12 countries.
This announcement marks another important milestone in National Petroleum Services’ growth trajectory. In April 2014, the company was acquired by a consortium of investors led by sovereign-backed investment firm Fajr Capital, and comprising Apicorp, Waha Capital, and other regional institutional investors.
Commenting on the deal, Ahmad Al Nuaimi, chief executive officer of Apicorp, said: “We are delighted to have played a significant role in financing the growth plans of National Petroleum Services, which is an international market leader in the oil and gas servicing sector. Apicorp has considerable experience, gained over 40 years, in providing equity and debt financing to companies operating in the energy sector, including some of the world’s largest businesses. We have a substantial balance sheet and a quality loan book of around $3 billion, all of which is dedicated to the energy sector.”
“Apicorp is a value adding partner of choice for businesses in the region. We can provide considerable assistance to companies through our two-pronged approach of equity investment and debt financing. This capability makes us one of the sector’s strongest and most robust financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.”
