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Date
: 19/07/2004
Source: South African Reserve Bank
Title: T Mboweni: Syndication of SARB term loan facility
STATEMENT ISSUED BY MR T.T. MBOWENI, GOVERNOR OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN
RESERVE BANK, ON THE OCCASION ANNOUNCING THE SUCCESSFUL SYNDICATION
OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK'S USD1 BILLION TERM LOAN
FACILITY, 19 July 2004
The South African Reserve Bank is pleased to announce the
successful conclusion of a capital raising exercise in the
international financial markets. The Bank entered into a three-year
syndicated loan transaction with a group of 39 international
financial institutions, the signing ceremony for which took place
in Cape Town today, 19 July 2004. The proceeds of this loan, which
matures in 2007, will be used to repay a syndicated loan entered
into three years ago, which loan had the National Treasury and the
Reserve Bank as co-borrowers. This year's loan in the amount of
US$1 billion will, however, be taken out in the sole name of the
South African Reserve Bank.
Having assembled a group of 23 leading international banks to act
as Mandated Lead Arrangers, initially committing USD60 million
each, and the transaction was launched for general syndication on
14 June 2004. Participation levels in general syndication were
USD30 million for Co-Arrangers and USD15 million for Lead Managers.
The Reserve Bank managed to put together a highly successful and
heavily oversubscribed transaction, resulting in USD 1,8 billion
being committed when compared to the financing requirement of USD1
billion. The Reserve Bank did not take up the excess funds offered,
and final participation levels were consequently scaled back for
all lenders.
This substantial over-subscription bears testimony to the success
of the transaction and, more importantly, reflects the sound and
improving credit story of the South African economy, as reflected
in the country's credit ratings. The strength of the Reserve Bank's
international banking relationships has once again allowed a smooth
execution of the transaction, which enjoyed strong support from the
market.
This remarkable level of support was secured against a background
of a market increasingly characterised by lending banks generally
applying more stringent criteria for granting loans. Thus the good
standing of the South African Reserve Bank in the international
financial markets is illustrated by the quality of banks which have
participated, the geographic spread of the source of funds and in
the pricing achieved.
Conditions in the syndicated loan market favoured well-rated
borrowers with strong banking relationships, resulting in the
Reserve Bank being able to achieve significantly improved terms and
conditions for the loan.
The syndicated loan may be drawn down in US dollar and/or euro at a
margin of 47,5 basis points per annum above Libor/Euribor. This may
be compared to the margin of 67,5 basis points per annum, which was
negotiated for the comparable 2003-syndicated loan entered into by
the Reserve Bank. The significant progress achieved in recent years
in reducing borrowing costs for the Reserve Bank is also reflected
by the fact that at the inception of the loan being refinanced in
2001, the margin over Libor was 85 basis points per annum. Another
attractive feature of the loan is a provision, which would allow
the Reserve Bank to automatically benefit from a lower pricing in
the case of an improvement in South Africa's credit rating.
The overall attractiveness of South Africa as a borrower was also
recently demonstrated by a successful placing of a US$1 billion -
10-year bond by the National Treasury in May 2004.
As a result of the substantial over-subscription, the final
allocations for the Lenders were as follows:
Citibank, N.A. - Joint Bookrunner
Commerzbank Securities - Joint Bookrunner
ING Bank N.V. - Joint Bookrunner
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited - Joint
Bookrunner
BNP Paribas - Documentation Bank
Standard Bank London Limited - Signing and Publicity
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd
Barclays Capital
Bayerische Landesbank
Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank
China Construction Bank
Deutsche Bank AG
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
HSBC Bank plc
HSH Nordbank AG
HVB Group
J.P. Morgan plc
Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd
Natexis Banques Populaires
SG Corporate & Investment Banking
Standard Chartered Bank
UFJ Bank Limited
WestLB AG
* Co-Arrangers
ABN AMRO Bank N.V
Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG
Bank of America Securities Limited
BMO Financial Group
Bank of Taiwan
CIBC World Markets plc
Erste Bank der Oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG
KBC Bank N.V
Lloyds TSB Bank plc
Raiffeisen Zentralbank
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