Bahrain Mirror- Reuters: Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), owner of one of the world's largest aluminium smelters, is raising $1.5 billion in bank debt to refinance loans it obtained in 2016 to back its Line 6 expansion project, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The company has mandated three Bahrain-based banks - National Bank of Bahrain, Bank ABC and Gulf International Bank - to underwrite the facility, which is now being syndicated to the wider bank market, said the sources.

Alba - which declined to comment - completed $1.5 billion in financing in 2016, marking the largest corporate loan ever raised in Bahrain.

Alba's original loan, split into an $882 million conventional tranche and a $618 million sharia-compliant tranche, had a seven-year maturity and was coordinated by JPMorgan, National Bank of Bahrain and Gulf International Bank.

Alba's financial performance has recently been hurt by lower London Metal Exchange (LME) prices, U.S.-China trade tensions and a drop in aluminium demand in North America and Europe.

It posted a loss of 19.1 million Bahraini dinars ($50.69 million) in the first half of this year.

Arabic Version