Mandated lead arrangers Commerzbank, RZB, Raiffeisenbank Austria and Standard Bank have launched a US$30mn one-year loan for Soyuz Bank into general syndication.

The Russian borrower will be using the facility for general refinancing purposes, and it is expected the loan will be signed in mid-September. The facility pays a margin of 275 basis points per year.

Bank Soyuz is a universal commercial bank with its priority activities being in corporate lending, retail services, bond issue arrangement and underwriting, trade financing and operations on stock and foreign currency markets.

The bank’s parent and only major shareholder is Holding FinanceResource, owned by Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element Group.