ProCredit Bank, a small-sized bank specialised in funding microenterprises, will attract a syndicated loan worth almost 200 million RON (56.6 million euros) from the local market, according to sources close to the transaction.

The syndication involved a consortium made up of seven local banks, with the only broker of this transaction being the Corporate & Investment Banking division of Citibank Romania.

"The syndication was oversubscribed, with almost 200 million RON being raised, 40% more than the initially targeted value, of 120 million RON," said the quoted sources. Although the exact sum to be contracted has not been set yet, sources say it will approach the total volume subscribed. The syndicated credit facility has a five-year maturity. The money will be used to finance ProCredit's portfolio of credits.

The bank had a loan portfolio worth 125 million euros at the end of June, 69% more than halfway through last year.

Contacted by ZF, officials of ProCredit Bank declined to comment on the transaction, for the time being. The bank also plans to take out a subordinated loan worth five million euros from its majority shareholder, the ProCredit group. These funds will sustain the investments poured into expansion.

The syndication was supposed to be signed in August, but the completion of the operation was put off until the beginning of September.

This is one of the biggest syndications carried out in the private sector of the local market.

So far, local banks have preferred to approach international markets for funding. In June, Finansbank opened the series of syndicated loans taken out by local banks this year, attracting a 60 million-euro line of credit from the international markets. The value of the loan, whose main brokers were Alpha Bank A.E. and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich, exceeded the initially targeted level,