“Sometimes loan market pricing can be cut even while the bond market widens but I believe that is not going to be the case in 2014,” said Turan, on EuroWeek’s Turkey corporates and banks roundtable. “[Syndicated] loan pricing will again be a concessionary price — a much tighter price than the ratings indicate — but I don’t foresee further tightening next year from the last levels of 75bp all-in.”
However Akbank, which was the bank responsible for driving pricing lower this year in the syndicated loan market, also had a representative attending the roundtable who said simply that further reductions in loan pricing next year would depend on market conditions. Akbank set the new benchmark for Turkish loan pricing in August when it signed its $1.5bn equivalent dollar and euro loan at 75bp all-in.
The full transcript of the roundtable, where participants discussed the variety of funding tools available to Turkey’s corporates and banks, will be published in EuroWeek’s Turkey report, released in January.