BicBanco Signs A/B Loan

BicBanco last week closed an approximately $206m IFC A/B loan to support access to finance for small and medium sized enterprises in Brazil. What the IFC says is its largest syndication for a financial institution in LatAm includes a $25m 5-year A loan. The B loan is divided into 4 tranches consisting of 2 euro loans and 2 dollar loans, with a 2 and 3-year tranche in each currency. The dollar loans consisted of a $25m 2-year loan and a $106m 3 year loan, and the euro tranches are for 2 years for EUR5m and 3 years for EUR30m. The 2-year priced at Libor plus 2.1% and Euribor plus 1.6%, the 3 year was at Libor plus 2.55% and Euribor plus 2.05%. The deal was 40% oversubscribed, says IFC. Banco Itau Europa, Commerzbank, IFC and Standard Chartered were coordinators and bookrunners, with HSBC and Citi also as bookrunners. Commitments were received from Banca Monte Dei Paschi di Siena, ING bank, Oberbank, Santander, Standard Bank, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Israel Discount Bank and LBBW. “IFC has mobilized through its B loan program $1.1bn from international banks to Brazilian midsize banks in the past 3 years, making a significant impact in the banking industry and in its SME clients,” says Stefania Berla, global head of syndications at the IFC. Mauricio Mora, syndications officer at IFC, tells LatinFinance that he expects the multilateral to increase lending to LatAm midsized banks, in particular Brazil and Peru, in 2011.