Turkey

Amedes — Akbank AG — Socar — EMC — DAE

Akbank AG, the Frankfurt based subsidiary of Turkey’s Akbank, has completed a $205m refinancing and increased the syndicate to 19 banks.

Turk Eximbank closed a €500m loan on Tuesday with its novel two-year tranche proving popular with banks.

Akbank set a template this week that bankers hope Turkish peers will seek to emulate by closing Turkey’s first standalone three year term loan since 2006.

Turkey has made enormous strides since the turn of the century, recording a decade of growth and pushing through vast waves of reform. Now its main challenge is to inject enough fresh growth into an economy that shows signs of stalling. This will not be easy, especially now that the political outlook has become clouded following an unconvincing win for the ruling AKP party. Elliot Wilson reports.

Bankers are preparing the ground for the first Turkish covered bond with both Akbank and Garanti Bank preparing extensive investor roadshows. Batuhan Tufan, head of funding at Garanti Bank, told The Cover on Tuesday that he is confident supply will sell. However syndicate bankers question whether issuance will fit more closely with emerging market, or covered bond investor portfolios. In any case pricing is expected to be wide of the sovereign.

Turkish banks finally look set to become a feature of the covered bond market this year as Akbank lines up its first euro-denominated benchmark. The bank still needs to finalise its cross currency swap arrangements, a funding official told The Cover, but a deal could emerge in a matter of weeks not months.

Moody's assigned a provisional rating to the Turkish Lira-denominated covered bonds of Akbank, raising hopes that the first such deal from the region will soon be seen.

Sekerbank is holding investor meetings for a covered bond which will be the bank’s first ever publicly syndicated deal targeted at investors in the private sector mainly in Europe. The deal takes advantage of the amended law which allows for greater use of derivatives in the cover pool.

Despite the recent sell off in emerging market credits, investors remain interested in Turkish bank private placements, according to MTN dealers.

Turkey’s updated covered bond law is credit positive, Moody’s said on Monday, after the country’s Capital Market Board announced the changes last week. However, the timetable for the first Turkish euro denominated mortgage backed benchmark has been pushed back after the lira hit new lows.

The Turkish covered bond law will be updated any moment now, paving the way for the first publicly syndicated euro denominated, mortgage backed covered bond. VakıfBank, Işbank, Ziraat Bank, and Akbank are in the frame, but the odds-on favourite to bring the first benchmark sized deal is Garanti Bank, which may surface in the first quarter.