Russia
The $200m loan for Russia’s Alfa Bank is already oversubscribed and has raised over $300m in commitments from the market.
The transaction, which has yet to close, was launched on May 9. However, like many loans this year, the deadline for responses has been extended beyond the three to four weeks that syndication typically took a year ago.
Officials were pleased with the response to Alfa Bank’s deal and with the oversubscription. "The bank market is all smiles at the moment," said one official close to the transaction.
Commerzbank, Fortis Bank, LBBW, SMBC and Wachovia are initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners on the facility. Garantibank is a mandated lead arranger.
The loan is split between a one year tranche and an 18 month piece, carrying margins of 100bp and 130bp over Libor. Banks were offered tickets of $15m, $10m, $7.5m, $5m and $2.5m for fees of 60bp, 55bp, 50bp, 45bp and 40bp respectively.
This was a hefty premium compared to when Alfa Bank came to the market last year with a $900m facility. That deal was split between a $452m, one year tranche paying 40bp and a $448m, 18 month piece paying 60bp, and the top ticket had a fee of 35bp.
The borrower, Russia’s biggest private bank, had always intended to raise more than the launch amount on its latest transaction. It set out with $200m as a minimum.
When the deal came to market, officials indicated that the final takes for the banks leading it was $30m, which only left $20m to be raised to reach the launch amount.
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Senior syndication of the $300m loan for Russian Copper has closed, after the margins were flexed, and the deal has been launched into general syndication.
BNP Paribas and Natixis are leading the transactions. In April, margins were flexed by 100bp to 325bp over Libor, after the deal struggled to gain traction during the senior phase of syndication.
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Russia’s Troika Dialog is back in the market with a $100m loan. The deal was launched on June 17 by mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners ING and Standard Bank. It is the borrower’s first venture in the market since last July when it signed a $180m facility which was increased from $150m.
The deal carries a margin of 175bp over Libor — last year, its one year debut facility paid 110bp. This new loan also has a one year tenor.
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The $1bn loan for Gazprom-Neft has received a warm response in syndication. The deal was launched at the end of May. Bankers said that its success was down to the loan’s generous pricing. "It’s storming through the market," said one official.
The loan is split into three and five year tranches, which carry margins of 150bp over Libor and 175bp respectively.
Banks are being offered tickets of $100m, $75m, $50m and $25m for 125bp, 110bp, 10bp and 90bp.
BBVA, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays Capital, SMBC and WestLB are all mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners on the transaction.
The borrower last came to market in September 2007, its $2.2bn facility paid 75bp.
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Transcreditbank is to return to the loan market with a $30m facility. Proceeds are for refinancing purposes.
The borrower also tapped the bond market earlier this week with $350m, three year bullet offering 9% and priced at the tight end of guidance. Dresdner Kleinwort and JP Morgan were bookrunners.
Transcreditbank was last in the loan market in October at one of the worst moments of the credit crunch for eastern European financial institutions. Then its $100m facility struggled and was reduced to $86.5m.
It was one of several deals that faltered at that time and despite benefiting from a letter of comfort from Russian Railways, the borrower being the state-owned service bank of the Russian transport industry.
Bankers’ confidence in the CEEMEA bank borrowing market has since been restored somewhat, after a number of loans to Russian and Ukrainian financial institutions did well in the market in the first and second quarters of this year and raised oversubscriptions.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has a 25% stake in Transcreditbank, which is rated B1 by Moody’s.
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The $1.5bn loan for Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) will be increased, after the deal was oversubscribed during syndication. The deal will be signed next week.
BNP Paribas and Société Générale are bookrunners and initial mandated lead arrangers, and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Deutsche Bank, SMBC and UniCredit also joined as bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers during senior syndication. ABN Amro and Fortis Bank are mandated lead arrangers.
The facility was underwritten at $1bn, with the aim of raising $1.5bn during syndication. Banks close to the transaction said that commitments had exceeded the target amount.
Proceeds will refinance debt at the group’s recently acquired Maxi Steel subsidiary.
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The $125m loan for Rosbank, which has scored a big oversubscription, is to be signed next week.
Erste Bank, Landesbank Berlin, RZB and WestLB are arranging the facility, which pays a margin of 75bp over Libor and has a one year tenor and a one year extension option. The borrower is expected to take an increase.
The borrower is Russia’s eighth biggest lender, and is more than 50% owned by Société Générale.
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Banks will be signed into a $500m loan for ZAO UniCredit, or UniCredit Moscow, today (Friday). The loan will be increased from $300m, after it was oversubscribed in syndication. It pays a margin of 90bp over Libor and has a three year tenor. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BayernLB, DZ Bank, LBBW and UniCredit are initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.
The borrower, which was called International Moscow Bank until last December and which bankers now refer to as UniCredit Moscow, is owned by UniCredit through Bank Austria.
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Ukraine
The $100m loan for Ukraine’s Raiffeisen Bank Aval has been launched into syndication by initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BayernLB, HSBC and Standard Bank.
The facility is split between a one year piece which pays 100bp over Libor and a two year tranche with a margin of 150bp.
The borrower was last in the market at the end of 2007 with a $200m, one year facility, which was increased from $100m. That deal paid a margin of 80bp.
But Raiffeisen Bank Aval made its mark on the loan market with its $500m debut earlier that year. That facility, signed in April 2007, was increased from $150m following a big oversubscription, and it set a record as the first two year deal by a Ukrainian bank. It paid 120bp over Libor.
The borrower is a subsidiary of RZB, and is the second biggest bank in Ukraine by assets.
The only worry expressed by bankers away from the new loan was that although Aval has an excellent track record as a borrower, RZB subsidiaries across eastern Europe have come to the loan market repeatedly over the last year. Banks could be full of RZB-related paper.
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Ukrgasbank is back in the market with a $20m loan arranged by ING and Standard Bank. The deal was launched this week.
The borrower was last in the market in June 2007 with a $46m facility. Standard Bank and WestLB arranged that deal, which was oversubscribed and increased from $20m.The facility paid a margin of 270bp over Libor.
Ukrgasbank was formed in 1993 and is the country’s 17th biggest bank by assets.
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