Turkish lender Akbank has managed to maintain its low borrowing costs by negotiating a US$1.4bn syndicated loan priced at just 100 basis points (bps) over bank lending rates.
The dual-currency one-year loan is split between a €708.5mn tranche priced at Euribor plus 100bps and a US$422mn tranche which costs Libor plus 100bps.
The pricing on the deal is comparable to what the Turkish bank paid for its March 2010 syndicated loan, which brought in an oversubscribed US$1.2bn.
A total of 44 banks lent to the newest transaction, meaning that the bank attracted similar numbers to previous syndicated loans.
Standard Chartered, Bank of New York Mellon, BTMU, BNP Paribas, Bank of America, Citi, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Rabobank, RBS, Société Générale, SMBC, UBS, Wells Fargo and WestLB all took on mandated lead arranger and bookrunner positions on the deal.
The MLA and bookrunner position required a commitment equal to or above US$55mn or €40mn.
Akbank also pulled in a 30% oversubscription to renew its one-year maturity tranche of its August 2010 US$1.1bn syndicated loan.
For the August loan, Akbank paid 130bps over Libor for the larger one-year tranche and 175bps for the two-year tranche.
“This loan, maintained at a time when international banks freeze their credit lines to each other, has once again confirmed Akbank’s strength, it’s reputation in international financial markets and its expertise in international transactions,” says Ziya Akkurt, chief execuive officer at the bank.
“We continue our leadership in the Turkish banking industry in syndicated loans by lowering, once again, the borrowing costs of syndicated loans, just like we did in our March syndicate loan.
“The Turkish economy and the Turkish banking sector continue to be the focus of foreign banks and investors, despite the recent volatility in the United States and European financial markets and the turmoil in neighbouring countries.”
Akbank has now closed US$3bn-worth of syndicated loans, as well as pulling in €1bn from a Eurobond in July 2011.
“Akbank’s perception as a safe haven for international banks and investors gives us pride,” says Hülya Kefeli, Akbank’s head of international banking.
The other banks involved in the deal are:
MLAs
Bank of Montreal
HSBC
JP Morgan
Landesbank
Morgan Stanly
Natixis
Lead Arranger
Bank of Nova Scotia
Managers
Fifth Third Bank
Arab Bank
Aresbank
Barclays
Landesbank
Nordea
Participants
Emirates NBD Bank
Banco Popular Espanol
Investkredit Bank
Toronto Dominion Bank
BayernLB
Banque Libano-Francaise
Sparkasse
Suedwestbank
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