Bank of Georgia has closed its debut syndicated dual-tranche loan facility via mandated lead arrangers Citi and Asian Development Bank. Citi acted as bookrunner on both tranches.

The Georgian bank originally tapped the market for US$100mn, but the borrower opted to increase the facility to US$123.5mn following oversubscription.

Syndication proved popular, despite the deal featuring a three-year tenor on one of the tranches. This tranche also paid a margin of 275 basis points over Libor. The other tranche has a 12-month tenor and a margin of 190bp.

Commenting on the deal, Lado Gurgenidze, chairman of the supervisory board of Bank of Georgia says: “We are delighted to have successfully placed our debut syndicated loan, the largest ever raised by a Georgian bank. It is unusual to have the debut syndicated facility with maturity exceeding 12 months, and the strong response from the traditionally conservative bank market is particularly noteworthy, especially in the current credit market conditions.”