The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) has mandated six banks for a $300 million transferable term loan facility. The mandated banks are ABN AMRO, BA Asia, Barclays Capital, DBS Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Tokyo-Mitsubishi International. The deal will be launched into general syndication early next week. DBS Bank is the publicity agent for the transaction.
As with the KDB deal, Kexim's loan also comprises three tranches of equal size and tenors of one-, two- and three years. Both the banks are government-owned and rated A3 and A- by Moody's and Standard & Poor's respectively.
Pricing on the Kexim deal is also likely to be similar to that on KDB's transaction. KDB paid margins over Libor of 10bp (all-in of 15bp), 15bp (all-in of 23bp) and 25bp (all-in of 33bp) for the one-, two and three-year tranches respectively, thus setting benchmarks for itself as well as other Korean borrowers.
As far as the current deal is concerned, pricing at levels similar to KDB would in itself mean cheaper pricing for Kexim. According to figures provided by Dealogic, Kexim's most recent visit to the loan markets was in March this year, when it paid a spread of 20bp over Libor for a $250 million one-year deal.
Prior to that it had last tapped the loan markets in November 2001 paying a spread of 35bp over Libor. Given the number of banks winning the mandate, success is virtually assured even if pricing is at KDB levels, although some bankers were not too optimistic about the one-year tranche. One observer was baffled why Kexim chose the one-year tranche when the KDB and KorAm transactions have clearly indicated that liquidity for one-year bank deals from Korea with tight pricing is drying up.
Meanwhile, Korea Exchange Bank and KorAm Bank have both closed their loan deals this week with varying degrees of success. As expected, KEB upsized its deal to $200 million from an original size of $150 million, with as many as 19 banks participating in the transaction. Although the deal was over 50% oversubscribed, KEB did not wish to upsize the deal to more than $200 million, which was its requirement. Signing of KEB's deal takes place on September 25 in Hong Kong.
KorAm's deal on the other hand met with lukewarm reception. Only six banks other than the mandated arrangers participated in the transaction demonstrating that Korean one-year bank deals priced aggressively may not be in favour any more. Signing of the loan is slated for next week.
The final allocations for the KEB and KorAm Bank deals are as follows:
KEB $200 million two-year loan
Coordinating arrangers | Amount (US$) |
Credit Lyonnais | 15,000,000 |
Natexis Banques Populaires, Hong Kong Branch | 15,000,000 |
Standard Chartered Bank | 15,000,000 |
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation | 15,000,000 |
LB Kiel | 15,000,000 |
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation | 15,000,000 |
|
|
Arrangers |
|
BayernLB | 14,000,000 |
Lloyds TSB Bank plc | 14,000,000 |
Wachovia Bank, National Association | 14,000,000 |
|
|
Co-arrangers |
|
Bank of China Seoul Branch | 12,000,000 |
KBD Bank NV Singapore Branch | 10,000,000 |
The Bank of Nova Scotia | 10,000,000 |
Mashreqbank psc | 10,000,000 |
|
|
Lead managers |
|
Baden-Wurttembergische Bank AG Hong Kong Branch | 5,000,000 |
LRP Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz | 5,000,000 |
UniCredito Italiano SpA Singapore | 5,000,000 |
United Overseas Bank | 5,000,000 |
|
|
Senior managers |
|
Taiwan Business Bank, Offshore Banking Branch | 4,000,000 |
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena | 2,000,000 |
|
|
Total | 200,000,000 |
KorAm Bank $150 million one-year loan
Coordinating arrangers | Amount (US$) |
Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney | 18,500,000 |
Commerz East Asia | 19,000,000 |
DBS Bank | 19,000,000 |
Natexis Banques Populaires | 18,500,000 |
Standard Chartered Bank | 19,000,000 |
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp | 19,000,000 |
|
|
Co-arrangers |
|
Union Bank of California | 10,000,000 |
Wachovia Bank | 10,000,000 |
UniCredito Italiano | 10,000,000 |
|
|
Lead manager |
|
Export-Import Bank of Taiwan | 5,000,000 |
|
|
Senior manager |
|
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena | 2,000,000 |
Total | 150,000,000 |
