Published: June 24, 2009
Despite tough market conditions, some CEE banks have returned to the syndicated loan market in the second quarter of 2009. State-owned banks like HBOR and NBL have managed to raise loans, as have three Turkish banks.
Slovenian state-owned bank NLB signed a €310mn one-year loan with 15 banks on June 2, in a deal lead-arranged by ING, Intesa SaoPaolo, Lloyds TSB and Raiffeisen. The deal was to re-finance a €750mn loan raised in 2008. Sources at NLB say that other banks may yet join the syndicate.
NLB also plans to raise up to €2.5bn on the Eurobond market this year, in a deal backed by a government guarantee. A source at the bank says it will wait to see how market conditions develop before deciding the size and timing of the deal. It is close to picking lead managers for the deal.
Croatia’s Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) has signed a €150mn syndicated loan agreement with foreign banks on June 9. According to a statement by the bank, the funds are intended for financing HBOR’s loan programmes.
The deal is lead-arranged by BayernLB, Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank, Erste Group, RZB, UniCredit Bank Austria and WestLB. The loan is syndicated in two tranches, of which the first tranche amounts to €25.5mn, and the second tranche to €124.5mn. The average loan maturity is 1.5 years.
In Turkey, three of the major banks have been entering into the syndicate market. On May 28, Isbank signed a dual tranche club deal for US$255mn and €225.25mn with a maturity of one year with an extension option of a further one year. The total cost of part of the club deal, which was raised by a syndicate of 28 banks from 14 countries and which will be used for trade financing, was realised at Libor +2.5% and Euribor +2.5%, respectively.
In the middle of May, Garanti Bank has signed a syndicated dual-tranche term loan facility to refinance its €600mn transaction signed in May last year.
The club deal consists of a US$110mn tranche and a €517mn portion, slightly more than the €600mn the bank aimed to raise. The facility pays a margin of 1.75% per year, and has a one-year maturity. The proceeds will be used to pre-finance export contracts.
At the end of May, Turkish Akbank has invited international banks to bid to put together a syndicated loan that will refinance its €1bn loan which was signed in August 2008. The pricing is expected to be 250 bps, matching that paid by Isbank.