No official response from Belarus to Sberbank proposal on $2 bln credit - BPS Bank chief
MINSK. Aug 26 (Interfax) - Sberbank of Russia has yet to receive from the Belarusian authorities to its proposal to issue via the borrowing company, fertilizer-maker OJSC Belaruskali, a credit of $2 billion, the chief of BPS Bank (a Sberbank subsidiary in Belarus) Vasily Matyushevsky told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.
"No official answer from Belarus has yet been received," Matyushevsky said. "For the market, this is a meaningful, serious international proposal," he said.
"The proposal as to the cost of these resources is more beneficial for Belarus compared to the cost of placing Eurobonds [around 9% per annum]. This [cost of resources] is considerably better than the cost of placing Belarusian Eurobonds," the banker said.
Sberbank chief German Gref said during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin early this month that Sberbank and Deutsche Bank were going to offer Belaruskali a $2 billion credit to be secured with export contracts and 35% of the company's stock.
"Actually, the $2 billion Sberbank of Russia and Deutsche Bank credit is attractive to the government. Belaruskali assets will be collateral for the credit, considering Belarus's previously lowered sovereign rating," a source in financial circles said then.
International experts say Belaruskali has to raise outside resources fast - in the form of credits or proceeds from privatization - to refinance earlier-received credits and amid the country's ongoing currency crisis.
Moody's evaluates Belarus's need for emergency external financing at from $3 billion to $6 billion before this year ends. Minsk will also need that much money next year, the rating agency thinks.
BPS Bank ended 2010 in 59th place by assets among banks around the Commonwealth of Independent States and 3rd among 31 Belarusian banks on the Interfax-1000: CIS Banks.