BCR gets $200m from over 20 banks

The Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) will get $200m next month to boost lending, as the syndicated loan attracted from the foreign markets was sealed at the end of last week. Although the bank had originally set out to borrow 100 million dollars, the high demand pushed the total value of the loan up to $200m. The operation is arranged by a consortium comprising Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG, Citibank, Erste Bank and Raiffeisen Zentralbank, also involving another 17 banks and investment vehicles, such as Commerzbank, Alpha Bank, BNP Paribas and Dresdner Bank. The loan matures in five years, with a grace period of four years. ZF