A $110 million, one-year loan has been secured in a club deal by the private sector Garanti Bankasi. The loan will be signed in Istanbul on 14 or 15 March.

The loan will have an all-in cost of 80 basis points over the London interbank offered rate (Libor), and a base margin of 60 basis points over Libor. Since it will be used for export financing, it will not be subject to a 4 per cent levy by the Central Bank still in force for short-term, external borrowing. The levy was first introduced at 6 per cent by the Central Bank in September to curb inflows of volatile, short-term funds.

Garanti mostly co-ordinated the syndication amongst its relationship banks with the assistance of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank. Other participants include American Express, Bank of America, Bank of New York, Fuji Bank, National Westminster Bank, Nations Bank. Sanwa Bank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and Sumitomo Bank This is the second major external deal arranged by Garanti in 1996. In January, it closed a seven-year securitisation of credit card receivables