Middle East Business

Saudi miner raises its first billion dollars from banks outside the Kingdom

By Staff Writer  |  24 August 2026

Maaden has closed 1 billion dollars of inaugural international syndicated credit facilities, split evenly between a term loan and a revolving facility that it expects to leave undrawn.

Saudi Arabian Mining Company, which trades as Maaden, said on 23 August that it had secured 1 billion dollars in its first international syndicated credit facilities, and that the books were heavily oversubscribed. The money is split into a 500 million dollar international term loan and a 500 million dollar international revolving credit facility.

The company said the transaction drew participation from banks across the United States, Canada and Europe, as well as China and Japan. Until now its syndicated borrowing has been raised at home, so the arrangement widens the pool of lenders it can go back to when the next tranche of capital expenditure falls due.

The strong international demand for these facilities reflects the confidence global financial institutions have in Maaden, our strategy and our long-term growth ambitions.

Bob Wilt, Chief Executive Officer of Maaden

What the two halves are for

The term loan is earmarked for the company's growth strategy and general corporate purposes, including financing expansion projects across its portfolio. The revolving facility is expected to remain undrawn and is there as committed standby capacity.

That distinction matters to anyone pricing risk on a Saudi mining or minerals contract. A committed but undrawn revolver is headroom rather than spending. It tells a supply chain that the employer has liquidity available if a programme slips or a payment cycle stretches, without telling it that any particular scheme is now funded.

A term loan that is drawn buys work. A revolver that stays undrawn buys time. Contractors reading a client's balance sheet should not treat the two as the same money.

The trading position behind the raise

Maaden reported second quarter revenue of 2.9 billion dollars, up 16 per cent on the same period a year earlier. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 3 per cent to 1 billion dollars, and net profit attributable to shareholders reached 600 million dollars.

The wider context the company points to is the scale of the resource it is being asked to develop. Saudi Arabia's mineral wealth has been put by government estimates at more than 9.4 trillion riyals, or about 2.5 trillion dollars, and Maaden is the vehicle expected to do most of the exploring and building.

It is also expanding its exploration pipeline through a planned joint venture with Saudi Aramco covering copper and other minerals used in the energy transition, a venture expected to be 51 per cent owned by Maaden and 49 per cent by Aramco.

What has not been said

No tenor has been published for either facility, no pricing has been given, and no arranger or participating bank has been named. Nor has the company identified which expansion projects the term loan will support, so the drawdown cannot be mapped onto any particular site or package.

Bob Wilt said the facilities strengthen the company's ability to deliver projects that will unlock the Kingdom's mineral potential. What that turns into on the ground will be visible first in the award schedule, not in the loan documents.