Published: November 26, 2010
Lender raises US$230mn from banking syndicate.
Standard Bank, an emerging market lender, has secured a US$230mn two-year loan from seven international banks.
The loan, which is priced at 125 basis points over Libor, will be used by the Johannesburg-based bank for general funding purposes.
The deal was co-ordinated by Commerzbank, with Standard Chartered as mandated lead arranger. Other banks in the syndicate included HSBC, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan and BNP Paribas.
Jenny Knott, Standard Bank’s chief executive, says that securing this two-year funding from seven top institutions proves the bank’s “excellent standing” in the international banking community.
Standard Bank operates in 17 African countries and a further 16 other international markets, including Brazil, Russia and China. By July 2010 it had a market cap of US$21bn with its assets valued at US$173bn. It has a long-term credit rating of Baa2 and a short-term rating of P-2 from Moody’s, while Fitch has given it long-term and short-term ratings of BBB+ and F2 respectively.