Commercial Bank Expobank has secured a US$26mn syndicated trade-related term loan facility via mandated lead arrangers Commerzbank, RZB, Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) and VTB Bank. It is the first time Expobank has ventured into the international syndicated loan market, having previously raised a rouble transaction fully placed in Russia.

The facility will be used by the Russian borrower to finance and refinance existing contracts. Commerzbank and RZB are bookrunners, with RZB also acting as facility agent.

It pays a margin of 275 basis points per year. It was well-received by the market, having been initially launched at US$20mn and increased to US$26mn.

All the initial MLAs committed US$3mn. Joining during syndication as an arranger is the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank committing US$8mn. The four lead manager banks are: Credit Europe Bank, Icebank, International Moscow Bank and VTB. They are all committing US$2mn. Yapi Credi Moscow joins as a manager committing US$1mn.

Commitments at arranger level came with a participation fee of 80bp. Co-arrangers were invited to commit US$3mn at a fee of 70bp, while lead managers could commit US$2mn for 60bp and managers can commit US$1mn for 50bp.

In August 2006, Moody’s Investor Service gave the bank a B3 (stable outlook) long-term foreign currency deposit rating.