Turkey’s Garanti Bank has successfully closed a €1.25bn equivalent syndicated loan facility.

The facility comprises of a US$468mn tranch and a €805.5mn tranche, with a tenor of 367 days.

Commitments were made by 38 banks across 16 countries. The funds will be used for general trade finance purposes including financing of export and import contracts.

The all-in pricing of the loan was Libor+1.45% per annum for US dollars and Euribor+1.35% per annum for euros. The facility agent for the deal was First Abu Dhabi Bank (PJSC), while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Standard Chartered were co-ordinators.

Commenting on the deal, Garanti Bank CEO Fuat Erbil says: “Despite the ambiguity in the markets, competence of the Turkish banking sector in international capital markets has been proven once again.”

Turkey’s political and economic situation has been testing for banks and businesses. The country recently saw a constitutional reform giving unprecedented powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as allowing him to run for two more terms of office. Erdogan has been criticised for imposing authoritarian rule in the country following his clampdown on opposition after an attempted coup in July last year.

Turkey has also been struggling with terror attacks and an expansionary monetary policy. This in turn has brought about a weakening local currency, which has subsequently led to international investors and financiers pulling away from Turkish investments or hiking up their lending rates.