Published: November 17, 2011
Banks from Europe, US and Far East join syndicate.
Russian lender Sberbank has secured a US$1.2bn loan from a group of banks in Europe, the US and the Far East.
The three-year loan included contributions from mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Citi, HSBC, ING Commercial Banking and JP Morgan.
Bank of America Securities and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe were also mandated lead arrangers while Goldman Sachs was a lead arranger. Barclays Capital acted as a co-ordinator and facility agent.
Sberbank claims this transaction has set a new benchmark in the current market, carrying a margin of 150bp over LIBOR.
A source who worked on the deal told EMEA Finance that there was a “healthy discussion around terms” but despite current market conditions it wasn’t difficult to bring banks together to provide the funds Sberbank needed.
Sberbank has become a regular visitor to the global debt markets. In December last year it raised a US$2bn three-year loan from a syndicate of 26 banks. In the same month it borrowed US$250mn from the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and in June this year it received US$650mn from Commerzbank, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of America for on-lending.