A total of 13 mandated lead arrangers have closed a US$100mn club term facility for Turklandbank (T-Bank). It is the first time the Turkish bank has tapped the market since significant changes were made to its shareholder structure earlier this year.

It was well-received by the market, but despite a slight oversubscription, the borrower has not elected to increase the facility.

The loan pays a margin of 40 basis points over Libor per annum and carries a 364-day tenor. It was launched on July 5 via mandated lead arrangers Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait, The Bank of New York, Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank, Bayerische Landesbank, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Commerzbank, Credit Europe Bank, Demir-Halk Bank, Garantibank International, Gulf International Bank, RZB, Standard Bank and Wachovia Bank.

Joining the facility as lead arranger is British Arab Commercial Bank. Co-arrangers are Jordan International Bank, National Bank of Egypt, Union de Banques Arabes et Francaises. Due to the need to raise funds as quickly as possible, it was decided to structure the deal as a club facility.

T-Bank was originally known as MNG Bank, but following changes to its shareholder structure at the beginning of the year it has been renamed. Towards the end of 2006 Arab Bank and BankMed Sal applied to the Turkish authorities to acquire a 91% stake in MNG Bank. As of the beginning of this year, Arab Bank now holds a 50% stake, BankMed Sal has a 41% stake and Mehmet Nazif Gunal, founder of the MNG companies group, retains a 9% share.
This latest transaction is significantly higher than the US$30mn MNG Bank tapped the syndicated market for last June via MLAs Bank of New York, Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank, Commerzbank, Demir-Halk Bank, RZB, and Wachovia Bank. Given the size of this year’s facility, T-Bank is unlikely to approach the market again until 2008.

In April, Fitch Ratings upgraded T-Bank’s ratings and assigned a Positive Outlook to its foreign and local currency issuer default ratings, and a Stable Outlook to the National rating.