Kazakhstani state owned holding company Samruk made its first venture into the loan market in its own right this week, with the launch of a $400m, one year acquisition related facility.
Samruk, which bankers described as being the holding company for every industry in Kazakhstan except for agribusiness and financial services, controls some of the best known borrowers in the country, such as oil and gas group KazMunayGaz (KMG).
Barclays Capital, Calyon and HSBC are leading the new transaction, which will finance Samruk’s acquisition of Bogatyr Access Komir, Kazakhstan’s biggest coal mining company. Proceeds will also be used for general corporate purposes.
The facility was launched on Tuesday this week, and a bank meeting is scheduled for September 1 in Paris.
The one year deal pays a margin of 135bp over Libor. All-in pricing for the top ticket on offer is 225bp, and 200bp for the lowest.
The loan follows the recent $2.5bn facility for KMG, set to be signed shortly. The facility, which was co-ordinated by ABN Amro (RBS) and Credit Suisse, is still in documentation, after the deal was launched in early July. It was slightly oversubscribed, but lenders said the loan did not reap the expected result in syndication.
The loan paid a margin of 155bp over Libor, and banks were being offered tickets of $200m for 100bp, $100m for 85bp, $50m for 70bp and $25m for 60bp.
Bankers close to the new deal for Samruk said they were not concerned about lenders being full on Samruk-related entities, or about the price.
"The difference here is that Samruk is basically Kazakhstan — it’s like lending to the sovereign," said one official.
Although deals for corporate borrowers in Kazakhstan have fared better than those for banks in the last year, recently even some of the well liked companies in the loan market, such as Eurasian Natural Resources Corp, have had more trouble raising big deals than in the past.
ENRC has been sounding out banks on a $4bn loan since early July, but the facility is still under discussion and is now set to be a much smaller club deal.
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