With its syndicated loan renewal, Akbank has provided US $605 million into the Turkish market. The loan has a 1 year maturity with a cost of Libor +2.25 and Euribor +2.00. 29 banks from 15 countries participated to this successful loan renewal.
“In a period marked by a decrease in access to liquidity, we provided $605 million FX liquidity to Turkey with our syndicated loan,” Akbank CEO Hakan Binbaşgil noted, “The global Covid-19 pandemic has a negative impact on real economies and daily life as well as on financial markets. Along with the difficult access to liquidity and FX resources, the transition of many companies and banks to remote working affects the ratification process of syndicated loans. In these challenging conditions, Akbank successfully renewed its syndicated loan. Despite the negative developments in the markets, we have improved the costs by 25 bps in USD tranche and 40 bps in Euro tranche compared to our March 2019 syndication deal. Thus, we have lowered the pricing of our 1-year maturity syndicated loan to Libor+%2.25 and Euribor+%2.00. In spite of significant uncertainty and a lowered interest rate our syndicated loan facility has once again attracted a strong global response from international banks. The transaction indicates international markets’ confidence in Akbank and the Turkish banking sector.”
“The syndication renewal is a concrete sign of confidence in Akbank and Turkey’s banking sector”
Binbaşgil continued, “Given the market conditions, a new feature known as an ‘accordion’ mechanism had been included to provide flexibility to the deal. With this innovative approach, banks which had difficulties in meeting the deadline due to working hour constraints were be able to participate to the syndication from the signature date of the transaction to April 9 - the withdrawal date of the loan. During the first week of March, Akbank had set the renewal target of the syndicated loan as c. USD 500-600 million. With the accordion feature, the total amount of Syndicated Term Loan surpassed the initial USD 600 million target of the bank. The syndication renewal is a concrete sign of confidence in Akbank and Turkey’s banking sector even in this tough period. With stable and transparent management, international banking standards, a strong balance sheet and excellent digital infrastructure, Akbank will continue to support Turkey’s economy, as it has for the past 72 years. In this difficult period, Akbank will continue to support the economy whenever needed.”
The highlights of the deal:
- Akbank closed the deal with an approximate equivalent of USD 605 million indicating an increase of c. USD 45 million, to the initial amount of USD 560 million signed on April 2, 2020.
- Dollar tranche increased from the initial amount of USD 246 million to 256 million Dollar and EUR tranche increased from EUR 284 million to EUR 316 million.
- 29 banks from 15 countries participated in the deal.