Riyad Bank has continued to maintain its dominant position as one of Saudi Arabia's – and the GCC's – most sophisticated and innovative banks.

Riyad Bank has a long record of being one of the most dynamic and pioneering banks in the Middle East and can point to a long history of participation in many of the region's most important project and corporate financings. Indeed, Riyad Bank has been a lead arranger in over $17 billion of financings over the past five years, including being joint lead arranger for Saudi Aramco's $2 billion core facility.

"We continue to be at the cutting edge of project and corporate finance at a time when there is rapid evolutionary change in the Saudi financial markets," says Abdulmajeed Al-Mobarak, head of Corporate Banking and an Executive Vice President at Riyad Bank. "And have worked on some of the region's keynote deals – such as the first large Saudi IWPP which is notable for the inclusion of a significant Islamic tranche, Saudi riyal bond offerings and we've even become the first Saudi dealer in a Euro-MTN programme."

A quick glance through some of the bank's recent work shows how the bank is maintaining its position as a leading force in both Saudi Arabia and the whole GCC region. Riyad Bank, for example, used both advisory and capital strength to support a Saudi/international consortium which bid for the first large IWPP project in the Kingdom, and is working with another group on the second.

Riyad Bank was lead arranger and agent for the $330m term loan financing for Saudi Fertilizer Company (SAFCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of SABIC.

Riyad Bank has completed the advisory work for the government owned, Communications & Information Technology Commission on the issuance of a new mobile phone licence and two new data licences. All licences have been issued successfully, with over SR12.2 billion being obtained for the new mobile phone licence – a world record on a per capita basis. Riyad Bank teamed with Goldman Sachs and others to complete the assignment.

The bank has been involved as the financial adviser to leading Saudi diversified industrial group (with assets of over SR1.5 billion) to provide valuation of business components, advise on equity restructuring and on private or public placement of equity.

"In addition to infrastructure and petrochemicals, we have also been involved with projects in the mining sector, where Saudi Arabia has great potential" says Al-Mobarak.

In terms of international finance and capital markets expertise, Riyad Bank has been at the forefront of extending the region's capabilities and debt placement. Riyad Bank was the key figure in the first Saudi international note dealership – the bank was the sole Saudi dealer for the important $1 billion Euro Medium Term Note programme for Gulf Investment Corporation. It was the first EMTN dealership for a Saudi bank.

Riyad Bank is also working with two clients on what may be the new debt financings under the auspices of the Kingdom's new Capital Markets Authority.

"It's been an exciting time for us," says Al-Mobarak. "We've reorganised our business into three different channels – large syndicated financings; structured finance and securitisation; and corporate debt and equity financial advisory – recruited extra corporate finance professionals and are busy developing new products and product lines. Liquidity in Saudi Arabia is high, as are the plans for well conceived investment and projects; and all of this is happening when both the domestic debt and equity markets are developing rapidly.

"In particular we've developed our financial advisory services for debt structuring and placement – especially for non-recourse finance for greenfield projects in Saudi Arabia. We're also in a better position to assist in corporate valuations, private and public equity placement and public equity distribution."

Alan Lowe
Head of Corporate Finance
Riyad Bank
Tel: (+966) 1 401 3030
alanlowe@riyadbank.com

Riyad Bank Overview

Riyad Bank is a modern financial services company with a strong and growing corporate and retail banking franchise in Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East.

Operational performance
The bank is an acknowledged leader in the area of corporate banking and finance in the region for the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors. It plays an important role in serving the national economy by continuing to expand its activity in providing financial advisory services.
The bank's substantial capital base has enabled it to play a primary role in arranging and participating in syndicated loans in excess of SR80 billion ($21.3 billion) during the last six years. Its branches and offices in London, Houston and Singapore support the international banking needs of its clients.
The bank's business customers have a comprehensive range of corporate banking services through a highly trained team of relationship mangers. Recent innovations in this business include an industry-leading electronic trade finance product, 'Riyad Trade Finance' accessible via a secure internet site.
The bank's full service approach is delivered through a domestic network of nearly 200 branches and over 600 ATMs in addition to a recently enhanced telephone, internet and mobile banking services.

Financial performance
Riyad Bank's continuing focus on understanding customers' needs and delivering against them has resulted in improving financial results year-on-year.
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2004 rose to SR2,006 million – an increase of 26% on SR1,592 million in 2003 and highlights the bank's steady growth in profits and returns to shareholders. Return on equity grew from 18.6% to 22.2% in the past financial year and return on assets from 2.23% to 2.70%. And the trend continues; recently announced performance for the first quarter of 2005 indicates continuing 20% growth in income and return on equity at 22%.

Financial strength
Total assets for the end of December 2004 reached SR74.2 billion and shareholders' equity stood at over SR9 billion. Customer deposits have risen to SR49.7 billion and loans have grown to almost SR33.9 billion with excellent asset quality.