JSC Bank for Social Development Ukrsotsbank has closed a US$250mn term loan facility where BayernLB, Calyon and UniCreditGroup (acting through Bank Austria Creditanstalt) have acted as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

The transaction was launched for a facility amount of US$100mn. The one-stage syndication was closed well oversubscribed with a total of US$266.5mn raised in syndication.

Accordingly, Ukrsotsbank elected to increase the facility amount to US$250mn and to reduce the commitments of those banks joining the transaction at the top levels.

Lenders of the syndication are 36 banks from Austria, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Poland, Portugal, France, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Hungary, Bahrain, India, China, US, Oman, Pakistan.

The facility will be used to finance or refinance trade-related transactions of the borrower’s customers and carries a margin over Libor of 1.60% per year which set a benchmark for Ukrainian privately owned banks. The facility has a 364-day year maturity with a one-year extension option.

Ukrsotsbank provides a full range of banking services in Ukraine. According to the Association of Ukrainian Banks, as of June 30, 2006, it was the fifth largest bank in the country by total assets, representing a total amount of US$2.5bn and accounting for 5.3% of the banking system total.

In February 2006, Banca Intesa, the second largest bank in Italy, signed a share purchase agreement with the controlling shareholder of Ukrsotsbank to acquire 88.55% of Ukrsotsbank’s share capital. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of March 2007.

As of September 12, 2006, Ukrsotsbank’s long-term foreign currency deposit ratings are B2, B and B- by respectively Moody’s , S&P and Fitch. All these three agencies have their ratings on positive watch.