By Davide Barbuscia, Yousef Saba and Gus Trompiz
DUBAI, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's state-owned ADQ has
lined up a small group of banks for a loan of about $1 billion
to back its acquisition of a 45% stake in commodities trader
Louis Dreyfus Co (LDC), three sources familiar with the matter
said.
ADQ said in November it had signed an agreement to acquire
an indirect 45% equity stake in LDC, in what would be the first
outside investment in the family-owned commodity merchant's
169-year history.
The planned acquisition financing will likely be provided by
a small group of banks including Emirates NBD, First
Abu Dhabi Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Natixis
, two of the sources said.
Rothschild is advising ADQ on the fundraising, which will be
finalised in the coming weeks, they said.
ADQ and Natixis did not respond to requests for comment.
Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Intesa, and Rothschild
declined to comment.
Abu Dhabi has increasingly used ADQ to consolidate strategic
assets. The company owns Abu Dhabi Ports, Abu Dhabi Airport and
bourse operator ADX. It has also built up a portfolio of food
and agriculture businesses and recently took a 22% stake in
Dubai-based courier Aramex.
LDC declined to comment on ADQ's financing of the deal. It
said the timeline for closing was unchanged, with the deal still
expected to close by mid-2021.
LDC has not disclosed the price for the deal, but specified
that at least $800 million of the proceeds would go towards
repaying a $1 billion loan LDC used to bail out Brazilian sugar
and ethanol firm Biosev.
LDC, one of the world's largest agricultural commodity
merchants, agreed in a separate deal this month to sell Biosev
to Raizen, a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc
and Cosan SA.
(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia and Yousef Saba in Dubai, Gus
Trompiz in Paris. Editing by Mark Potter)