Majid Al Futtaim Seeks $1 Billion

Majid Al Futtaim Holding LLC, is raising $1 billion from three-year and five-year loans to fund expansion. MAF Retail operated 38 Carrefour hypermarkets and 27 Carrefour supermarkets in 11 countries in the Mena region as of April 30, with further expansion plans under way, the document showed. The three-year revolving credit facility pays a margin of 250 basis points over the benchmark rate, said the people, who declined to be identified before the terms are public. The five-year amortizing loan pays a margin of 275 basis points over the benchmark rate, which rises to about 315 basis points after including fees, the people said. The loans are being raised in both dollars and dirhams. The builder and owner of shopping malls across the Middle East plans to invest $3.5 billion expanding in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. Its shopping mall in Beirut will be completed in October 2012 while a mall is underway in Cairo costing 2.8 billion dirhams. Barclays Capital, Emirates NBD PJSC EMIRATES and Standard Chartered Plc are coordinating the loan. The group's real-estate arm, currently operates 10 shopping malls in the U.A.E., Egypt, Oman and Bahrain, and is building or master planning an additional four malls in the U.A.E., Lebanon, Egypt and Syria and has recorded total comprehensive income of $134.6 million in the last financial year ended Dec. 31, 2010.