Standard Bank Closes Debut Syndicated Loan Issue Of $175m Targeted At MidEast Banks
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited signed a $175m, a 364-day term loan funding on October 4, 2012, in Dubai. Mashreq was the Mandated Lead arrange and sole Bookrunner of the financing. Al Khalij Commercial Bank ‘al khaliji’ QSC, Arab Banking Corporation B.S.C., China Construction Bank Corporation, Doha Bank Q.S.C., Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Abu Dhabi Branch, Samba Financial Group and Union National Bank also joined as Mandated Lead Arrangers.
Bank of China Limited, The Commercial Bank of Qatar ‘Q.S.C.’, Credit Libanais and Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberosterreich Aktiengesellschaft, also participated.
The financing, which will be used for general corporate purposes, was significantly oversubscribed by more than 2.5 times from the initial launch amount of $100m with commitment received from bank of $253m.
The term loan pays 130 basis points ‘bps’ margin over LIBOR. Rassem Zok, CEO Standard Bank- MENA region, stated that the overwhelming response in the facility from the Middle Eastern and international banks confirms increasing interest in Africa and trust endorsed to Standard Bank’s strong financial credibility.
Arno Daehnke, Head: Treasury and Capital Management, Standard Bank Group Limited commented by saying, “I am truly delighted to be representing Standard Bank for the signing of the loan, which is our debut loan in the Middle East region. The book was extremely well run by Mashreq. The launch amount of the transaction was $100m and the commitments received amounts to $253m. The final take was $175m. The oversubscription indicates that there was keen appetite for The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited’s name. The participation in the transaction exceeded our expectations and the scale-back had to be made in order to accommodate and match Standard Bank’s funding needs.”
John Iossifidis, Executive Vice President and Head of International Banking Group, Mashreq was pleased with the outcome of the syndication and thanked all the participating banks. He said, “it was indeed an honor to lead and manage the syndicated loan deal for a very important relationship for Mashreq. The response reinforces Mashreq’s excellent arrangement capability and wide relationship network that it maintains with counter-parties in the region.”
Standard Bank Group is Africa’s largest banking group, present in 18 African countries and a major player in the natural resources. ICBC of China is SBG’s largest single shareholder.
Press Release
