The Azerbaijani state oil company’s Turkish subsidiary announced the deal on 21 October, and Report carried it at 19:30 Baku. Demand was 1.8 times the target. The company read that as international institutions’ interest, and the loan runs five years under SOCAR’s guarantee at SOFR plus 230 basis points a year. The new financing costs less than the previous loans and than comparable market deals, the company said, and lets it restructure its obligations, improve borrowing terms and support liquidity without new commitments.
SOCAR president Rovshan Najaf, who chairs SOCAR Turkiye’s board, said the demand confirmed the markets’ confidence in the company and in the SOCAR group’s financial stability, and that raising money amid continuing global uncertainty showed the institutions’ support for the company’s projects. Vinson & Elkins and Omni Law Firm advised the borrower.
Demand was 1.8 times the target.
The page names two arrangers and a count of 22 banks, and leaves out the other 20, the loans being refinanced and their old margin, the size of the saving and the closing date. It is a pre-window item, published on the evening of 21 October.
What is on the record is a price. Five years, SOFR plus 230 basis points and a parent guarantee from Baku are the terms on which 22 banks lent $1.6 billion to the Turkish arm of Azerbaijan’s state oil company.
