BTA completes restructuring

After almost two years, Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank has completed its US$12.2bn debt restructuring process.

The bank, which was taken over by Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna in January 2009, sparked widespread concern when it announced that its trade finance debt would be grouped with other forms of debt, and subject to discounts.

However, an overwhelming majority of 92% of investors voted throughout May for the final restructuring package, with just 1% voting against and 7% abstaining.

BTA only required a two-thirds vote to get approval for the restructuring.

Before the vote took place, BTA went on a global roadshow, visiting investors in Singapore, Hong Kong, Zurich, Geneva and London, to explain the intricacies of the debt package and where creditors fit into it.

GTR speaks to Marcia Favale Tarter, senior advisor to Kazakhstan’s prime minister and independent advisor to BTA, about the process: “I think BTA Bank was received very well on the roadshows. I had to put the message across that if we didn’t get the vote then the value of the alternative would have been much less than restructuring. People believe that this is the best deal they could have got. This shows that even from the potentially controversial trade finance [debt], which died down, to everything else, 92% approval rate really sends a clear message that the restructuring in Kazakhstan has been very well received and supported by the market.”

With the votes cast and the restructuring package in place, the future of BTA over the medium term looks set to be in the domestic markets, as Tarter explains: “BTA can now focus more on the strategy for the bank that is going to be Kazakh-centric over the medium-term rather than more international. All of the [Kazakh] banks will have the challenge of figuring out their place in the new financial sector.”