UAE's Dana Gas raises loan, avoids another restructuring

United Arab Emirates energy firm Dana Gas has raised a $90 million loan allowing it to redeem $309 million in bonds due at the end of October and avoid a third debt restructuring.

The company whose main assets are in Egypt and in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq said on Thursday it had obtained a one-year $90 million loan from Mashreq Bank.

"In conjunction with the company's cash reserves, the facility will allow full redemption of the sukuk at the maturity date of 31 October 2020," it said.


In July, Dana hired financial firm Houlihan Lokey to advise it on the sukuk, or Islamic bonds, which it had already restructured twice.

The new loan, which pays an initial 3% margin over the London Interbank Offered Rate and could be extended for a further four years, will be repaid when Dana completes a planned sale of its Egyptian assets, it said.

Sources told Reuters last month the company was negotiating details to sell those assets to Texas-headquartered IPR Energy.

The firm shook the global Islamic finance industry in 2017, when it said it would not redeem its $700 million sukuk, arguing they were no longer valid under UAE law because of changes in Islamic financial practice.

After a protracted legal battle, it reached an agreement with creditors in 2018. That restructuring followed an earlier one in 2012.