UralSib Bank, Russia's biggest privately owned lender, will seek a syndicated loan this week for as much as US$100 million to help finance trade in Asia, said the bank's deputy chairman, Alexander Dementiev.
The loan, arranged by Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, is expected to be signed by early February, Dementiev said. He declined to name other lenders that may participate.
The Moscow-based bank last week visited Taiwan and Hong Kong to promote the loan.
"We want to become an established name in the region and we want to start building up a track record," Dementiev said. "The amount is not the prevailing factor."
UralSib also is engaged in a feasibility study for opening a regional office, most likely to be in Taipei, Hong Kong or Singapore, Dementiev said.
The facility for UralSib, whose name stands for Ural-Siberian bank, follows a one-year US$200 million syndicated trade finance loan signed by local rival Alfa Bank. That loan, signed last month and paying interest 0.45 percentage points more than
the London interbank offered rate, was arranged by ICICI Bank Ltd, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Commerzbank AG and Natexis Banques Populaires.
Moscow-based MDM Bank also signed a US$150 million loan on Dec. 5, arranged by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Calyon and European Bank for Reconstruction & Development.
UralSib Bank has been active in the international loan market. Since August, the bank has arranged two international market loans -- one for US$300 million and the other for US$320 million.
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