OREANDA-NEWS. On April 20, 2007 the extension of a USD 500 million syndicated term loan facility to Ukrainian Raiffeisen Bank Aval, subsidiary of Vienna-based Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG, was officially signed, reported the press-centre of  Raiffeisen Bank Aval. The syndicate comprises a geographically diversified group of investors represented by more than 40 international financial institutions. The facility was announced to the market at the beginning of March with an initial amount of USD 150 million. Due to the market's confidence in Raiffeisen Bank Aval and the resulting over-subscription, the final loan facility was increased to USD 500 million. The facility has a two-year tenor with one final ("bullet") repayment.


BayernLB, DZ BANK, HSBC and Standard Bank acted as Bookrunners. The loan is a landmark transaction in the Ukrainian market: It is the largest transaction in terms of volume for a Ukrainian financial institution and the first syndicated deal on the local market with a tenor of two years. It also sets a benchmark in terms of price at a record-low margin of 120 basis points. The margin achieved is a reflection of the ownership structure (Raiffeisen Bank Aval is 95,6 per cent owned by Raiffeisen International) and of the bank's substantial volume of operations developed in the Ukrainian market. Martin Grull, CFO of Raiffeisen International, was very glad about the syndication results and commented: "The success of this transaction demonstrates the strong position of Raiffeisen in Ukraine and indeed the whole CIS as well as recognition as a reliable partner in the international financial market." It was only in December that Raiffeisenbank Austria, Moscow, received a three-year syndicated loan facility amounting to USD 625 million. That deal also ranked among the best in terms of volume and pricing as well.


The facility will be used for general funding purposes, i.e. financing the growing loan portfolio which reached the countervalue of nearly 3,3 billion euros as at year-end 2006. The bank's number of customers across all segments exceeds four million.