OREANDA-NEWS. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ("EBRD"), Calyon, HSBC Bank plc ("HSBC") and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG ("RZB") have completed the syndication of a $300 million loan, under an EBRD A/B loan structure, to Promsvyazbank (“PSB”), reported the press-centre of  EBRD. For Promsvyazbank this is its largest syndicated loan to date and the one with longest tenors. It will assist one of Russia's largest private banks to expand its retail activities, to extend longer-term funding and to increase small business lending. The loan was jointly arranged and fully underwritten by the EBRD, Calyon, HSBC and RZB. The EBRD is the lender of record for the full amount and is providing a five-year A loan using $85 million of its own funds. The remaining $215 million has been syndicated to 33 commercial banks, which are advancing three-year loans under the B loan. The transaction was originally offered to the market as a $200 million loan but was increased after the B loan was oversubscribed by more than 100 percent. The B Loan was priced at LIBOR plus 1% per annum.

 
The syndicate group also includes State Bank of India, Bank of Taiwan Offshore Banking Branch, Credit Europe Bank N.V., Dresdner Kleinwort AG, Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Offshore Banking Branch, Bank Hapoalim B.M., DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg, London Branch, Bank Leumi Le-Israel B.W., The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Bank Sinopac, Demir-Halk Bank N.V., Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank AG, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, London Branch, Mega International Commercial Bank, National City Bank, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberoesterreich Aktiengesellschaft, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Europe Limited, WGZ Bank AG Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank Ltd., London Branch, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank Limited, London Branch, American Express Bank Ltd, Banco BPI Cayman Limited, Banque BIA, GarantiBank International N.V., Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederoesterreich-Wien AG, BRE Bank SA. The agreements were signed in London on 12 April 2007.

Mr. Alexander Levkovskiy, CEO of Promsvyazbank, said that EBRD has been a reliable partner of Promsvyazbank over the past three years and has come up with new products designed to support the expansion of PSB in the Russian banking market. He also expressed his appreciation of the work done by the arrangers and his gratitude to the participant for their continued support for PSB. Established in 1995, Promsvyazbank has evolved into a large universal bank offering a full range of services to corporate and retail clients and has a significant regional footprint. It is currently ranked as the 10th largest Russian bank in terms of corporate lending volume and 14th largest in terms of capital. In December 2005, Promsvyazbank received a 1,5 billion rouble (equivalent to $57 million) subordinated loan from the EBRD. Earlier, it obtained a $30 million EBRD loan to boost lending to small businesses and it is also a participant in the EBRD's Trade Facilitation Programme created to speed up and simplify east-west trade flows.