ADQ Abu Dhabi is borrowing $ 1 billion to complete the acquisition

The Abu Dhabi government-owned holding company ADQ has chosen a small group of banks to obtain a loan of nearly $ 1 billion to support its acquisition of 45% in the Louis Dreyfus LDC commodity trading company.

and in November the holding signed an agreement to acquire an indirect interest of 45% in Louis Dreyfus, which would be the first foreign investment in the owned commodity trading company. For a family with a history spanning 169 years.

and according to Arabnet, citing informed sources, that a small group of banks, including Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi First, Intesa Sanpaolo and Natexis, will likely provide financing for this planned acquisition. .

He said that Rothschild is advising the holding company on fundraising, which is to be completed in the coming weeks.

Holdings and Natexis did not respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters. Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Intesa and Rothschild declined to comment.

Abu Dhabi is increasingly relying on holding to unify strategic assets. The company owns Abu Dhabi Ports, Abu Dhabi Airport, and the exchange operator, Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange. It also built a portfolio of companies operating in food and agriculture, and recently acquired 22% of the Dubai-based Aramex shipping company.

Louis Dreyfus declined to comment on the holding's financing of the deal. She said that the timetable for closing the deal has not changed and is still expected to be completed by the middle of this year.

Louis Dreyfus did not disclose the price of the deal, but said that at least $ 800 million of its proceeds will be allocated to repay the $ 1 billion loan that the company used to save the Brazilian sugar and ethanol company, Biocef.

Louis Dreyfus, one of the world's largest agricultural commodity trading companies, agreed in a separate deal this month to sell BioSave to Ryzen, a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell and Cosan.