Banks offered VEB unfavorable terms for repaying syndicated loan - Dmitriev
MOSCOW. April 23 (Interfax) - The syndicate of banks that provided a three-year loan of $2.45 billion to Vnesheconombank (VEB) has proposed unfavorable terms for refinancing the loan - and some of the banks have decided not to take part at all - due to the political tension in recent months.
VEB Deputy CEO Alexander Ivanov said on Monday that the bank would repay the loan in the next few days.
VEB CEO Vladimir Dmitriev provided more detailed comment on the matter in an interview with Rossiya 24.
"We have run into a situation where a syndicated loan raised three years ago from a large group of banks, that we had to repay in April but counted on refinancing, will be repaid in full. This is our response to the terms that the banks offered us, that do not sit well with us," Dmitriev said.
"A number of banks simply decided against refinancing, in response to the imposition of sanctions [by the U.S. and EU against a number of Russian officials and businesspeople over Crimea]. Some of them jumped the gun," he said.
In parallel, VEB is seeing that many banks, including those that are part of the syndicate "are actively coming to us, on a bilateral basis, offering financing, offering tied credits," he said. These are European and Japanese banks, and international financial organizations, he said.
The participants in the syndicated loan included 19 banks from Europe, the U.S. and China. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFG, Barclays, BNP Paribas, China Development Bank Corporation, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Societe Generale and SMBCE were the lead organizers and bookrunners and Banc of America Securities, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, ING, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, The Royal Bank of Scotland and WestLB were lead organizers. The coordinator and payment agent was Barclays Capital.
