Kazakhstan’s Bank CenterCredit (BCC) has signed a US$125mn syndicated trade-related loan arranged by mandated lead arrangers Deutsche Bank AG London and ING. Syndication of the facility, which represents the 12-month extension of last year’s US$45mn loan, was highly successful and raised more than US$140mn.

 

However the loan was scaled back to meet BCC’s funding requirements. The US$125mn loan, which carries a margin of 2% per year, is the largest loan for a Kazakh bank outside the big top three.

 

The lenders make up a diverse list of syndicate banks. Numbering 39, the syndicate is also by far the largest that BCC has raised.

 

Senior arrangers were: Anglo-Romanian Bank; Bankgesellschaft Berlin; Citigroup; Demir-Halk Bank (Nederland); GarantiBank International; National Bank of Egypt (UK).

 

Arrangers were: Alpha Bank; American Express Bank GmbH; HVB Group; Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank; RZB; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe.

 

Co-arrangers were: Emirates Bank International; Magyar Klkereskedelmi Bank.

 

Lead managers were: Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg Group.

 

Managers were: Arab Bank plc; Arab Investment Company; Erste Bank; The Governor & Company of Bank of Ireland; Habib Bank OBU Bahrain; Mashreqbank; Natexis Banques Populaires; Wachovia Bank.

 

Participants were: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena; Banca Popolare di Verona e Novara, London; Bank of Montreal; Bre Bank; Dresdner Bank; First Commercial Bank; HSH Nordbank AG Luxembourg; Israel Discount Bank of New York; Nova Ljubljanska banka; Sanpaolo IMI; Swedbank; Bank of Nova Scotia; Banco Espirito Santo; Finansbank (Holland).

 

BCC is the fifth largest bank in Kazakhstan with total assets at December 31, 2004 of US$1.12bn and total shareholders equity at the same date of US$92mn.