Bank Saderat plc’s debut three-year US$120mn syndicated loan facility has been signed. The mandated lead arrangers for the facility are ABC International Bank, Ahli United Bank, Standard Bank London and Standard Chartered (agent).

 

A total of 17 banks participated in the transaction. They were:
Arrangers: Bank fur Arbeit und Wirtschaft; Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank; HSH Nordbank, London; Melli Bank; RZB.

 

Lead managers: Bayerische Landesbank; Erste Bank (Malta); National Bank of Egypt (UK); Persia International Bank.

 

Managers: Bank Sepah International; BankMuscat; Sabanci Bank plc; State Bank of India, London.

 

The facility was launched at US$100mn and closed 20% oversubscribed and the borrower has elected to increase the facility by US$20mn.

 

This is the first occasion that Saderat has sought to raise finance from the international syndicated loan market.

 

The facility is for general corporate purposes and working capital requirements.

 

The margin is Libor + 1.05% per year.

 

Bank Saderat plc was originally founded as the Iran Overseas Investment Bank (IOIB) in 1973 and owned by a consortium of Iranian and non Iranian shareholders. Following the 1979 Iranian revolution, non-Iranian shareholders were bought out by Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat Iran.
In November 2001 IOIB became a 100% owned subsidiary of Bank Saderat Iran. In March 2002, IOIB’s name was changed to Bank Saderat plc and the assets and liabilities of Bank Saderat Iran’s former London branch were integrated into the bank with effect from July 2002.

 

Bank Saderat Iran is the second largest domestic bank in Iran with the largest branch network and shareholders equity of US$888mn (September 2004). It has the largest overseas operations of any of the Iranian banks (which includes two overseas subsidiaries and 23 branches).