OREANDA-NEWS. August 25, 2009. The International Bank of Azerbaijan has recently signed an agreement on borrowing syndicated loan at a rate of 53.5 million US dollars and 5 million euro. This is the first major deal made by IBA at the international financial markets in the current year, the fact that in the time of ongoing global financial crisis and the shortage of spare cash funds at the international financial markets serves as an evidence of confidence and great interest displayed by foreign investors with respect to Azerbaijani bank, reported the press-centre of IBA.

Such leaders of international banking business, as "Citibank, N.A.", "Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleen Bank B.A.", "Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg" and "Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich Aktiengesellschaft" have acted as the authorized organizers of this syndication. Altogether 10 banks from different countries have participated in this syndication including such banking institutions as "The Economy Bank N.V.", "Banque de Commerce et de Placements", "Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi A.S.", "FBN Bank" (UK), "Unicredit Bank Austria AG" and "Bayerische Hypo und Vereinsbank AG". It is also noteworthy that many of these banks have already participated in the organization of previous syndications for IBA or granted to bank the credit facilities under the bilateral agreements.

In spite of the fact that the initially declared amount of syndication was at the level of 36 million US dollars, nevertheless, as it was usually the case with conclusion of previous deals, as a result of a great interest shown by financial institutions with respect to IBA, the total amount this deal reached 53.5 million US dollars and 5 million euro. The credit facilities were granted to the Bank for a period of 1 year for the purpose of trade operations financing. IBA also has the further plans for active borrowing of syndicated loans.

It is appropriate to recall that the history of IBA's external borrowings date back to 2001 when the Bank was the first in Azerbaijan to borrow a syndicated loan for the amount of 10 million US dollars. In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, the Bank borrowed 4 jumbo loans in the amount of 56 million (syndicate comprised of 19 banks), 130 million (syndicate comprised of 25 banks), 140 million (syndicate comprised of 26 banks) and 173.5 million (syndicate comprised of 28 banks) US dollars, respectively. In 2007, for the first time in the history of national banking sector, the Bank borrowed a syndicated loan in the amount of 100 million US dollars.

It is appropriate to recall that in the current year the Bank has received the award from "Global Finance" ("The Best Bank in the World’s Emerging Markets"), "Euromoney" ("The Best Bank in Azerbaijan"), and "Еmeafinance" ("The Best Bank in Azerbaijan") journals, and has been ranked as the most stable bank in Europe in the time of financial crisis by the "European Economic Chamber of Trade, Commerce and Industry", and also, the Bank has been awarded "Platinum Key", the first international banking prize awarded by the "Banking Association of Central and Eastern Europe" (ВАСЕЕ).