Senior phase closes on Socar

Initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners ABN Amro and Citi have closed the senior stage of a US$500mn three-year unsecured term loan facility for Socar, the state-owned oil company in Azerbaijan. General syndication is expected to be launched shortly.

The transaction was received positively by the market, and it was oversubscribed at senior level increasing to US$500mn from the initial request of US$300mn.

It has been structured as an unsecured amortising loan with a three-year final maturity, and carries a margin of 1.75% over Libor per year. It is the borrower's first syndicated unsecured financing and largest ever unsecured syndicated loan raised in Azerbaijan.

Banks joining at senior level as mandated lead arrangers are: BNP Paribas, Calyon, Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank, JPMorgan Chase, Soci&eaute;té Générale SMBC, and BTMU UFJ. The Malta branch of Turkey's Akbank joined as an arranger.
Socar is the biggest local company in Azerbaijan, with its US$3.3bn revenues for 2006 accounting for 17% of the country’s GDP.