Lebanon's Lutfi El-Zein Group acquires $400m stake in Medgulf

BEIRUT: A consortium of 16 banks announced that they have successfully arranged a $400 million acquisition deal for the purchase of Saudi Oger's shares in the Medgulf Insurance and Reinsurance Group by Lutfi El-Zein Group.

Bank Audi and Deutsche Bank, lead arrangers and book runners respectively, succeeded over the weekend in arranging a multi-tranche acquisition financing package, which includes a $175-million syndicated term loan facility.

The transaction marks the largest acquisition financing deal to be syndicated and funded in Lebanon, the largest pan-Middle East leveraged buy-out since 2007, and the largest ever insurance group LBO in the MENA region.

The consortium, made up mostly of Lebanese banks, includes: BankMed, Emirates Lebanon Bank, Banque Libano-Française, Credit Libanais, Banque Misr Liban, Fransabank, IBL Bank, BBAC, Lebanon & Gulf Bank, BLC Bank, Fransa Invest Bank, Société Générale de Banque au Liban, IBL Investment Bank, and CSC Bank, in addition to the mandated lead arrangers.