UkrGasBank’s debut facility was launched at USD10 million and generated a 60% oversubsription

Ukraine-based UkrGasBank has successfully closed its debut a $16 million Syndicated Trade-Related Term Loan Facility. Standard Bank Plc. acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and Facility Agent for the facility.

After extremely successful pre-syndication and general syndication phases, the facility was heavily oversubscribed by 60% and the amount increased from initially USD10m to USD16m, which was fully taken by the Borrower. The facility carries a margin of 3.10% per year above Libor. A total of 8 financial institutions from 6 countries joined the transaction. The facility has a tenor of 364 days from the date of signing and bullet repayment at maturity. UkrGasBank intends to use proceeds to finance specific export/import contracts of its strategic clients.

Banks and financial institutions involved into the facility include Standard Bank Plc. (Mandated Lead Arranger), Ukreximbank (Senior Lead Arranger), AKA Ausfuhrkredit Gesellschaft mbH (Arranger), National City Bank (Co-Arranger), Commerzbank (Lead Manager), FBN Bank (UK) Ltd. (Lead Manager), Finansbank (Holland) N.V. (Lead Manager) and Icebank (Lead Manager).

Vadim Lyashko, Chairman of the Board, said: “This transaction represents a new level of our successful cooperation with financial institutions, and the oversubscription from a wide range of international banks demonstrates the high level of interest in our business. We were particularly pleased with the number and variety of banks who participated in the deal. Participants included our established partners and new comers to our joint cooperation.”

UkrGasBank is the 18th largest bank in the Ukraine in terms of total assets and the 13th largest in terms of deposits. The borrower is rated 'B2' by Moody's.

As at September 2006, UkrGasBank had total assets of US$680mn, customer deposits of US$399mn, customer loans of US$331mn and shareholders' equity of US$52mn.

UkrGasBank has a strong client base with about 14,000 corporate clients and 54,000 active retail clients (excluding 235,000 payment card customers) offering them the full range of services, including but not limited to origination of loans and guarantees, acceptance of savings and deposits, settlement and card products, documentary and treasury operations.

08.12.2006