OREANDA-NEWS. On July 18, 2007 Alfa-Bank has successfully closed a US $900 million dual-tranche term syndicated loan. The facility was launched at an initial amount of US $660 million, however, due to strong investor demand, the total loan amount was increased to US $900 million, reported the press-centre of Alfa-Bank.

The facility consists of two parts: a 12-month tranche of US $452 million priced at 40 basis points over 6-month Libor and an 18-month tranche of US $448 million priced at 60 basis points over 6-month Libor. The facility will be used to fund Alfa-Bank’s trade financing activities.

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main, Emirates Bank International PJSC, GarantiBank International  N. V., HSBC Bank PLC, ICICI Bank UK PLC, Mega International Commercial Bank, Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd., Natixis, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited acted as initial mandated lead arrangers while Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, HSBC Bank PLC, Natixis & Standard Chartered Bank acted as bookrunners. In total, 43 banks and financial institutions participated in the deal.

“This is the tenth and the largest syndicated loan of Alfa-Bank. It is also the largest transaction of this type ever completed by a privately owned financial institution in Russia. Our record deal provides clear evidence of strong investor confidence in the top quality Russian privately owned banks,” says Maxim Topper, Head of International Banking and Financial Institutions at Alfa-Bank.

In addition, on 2 July 2007 Amsterdam Trade Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alfa-Bank based in the Netherlands, closed a US$ 60 million 12-month club deal, which was priced at 45 basis points over 6-month Libor.