$325m Syndicated Term Loan Facility for Black Sea Trade & Development Bank

Despite difficult market conditions, the transaction was extremely well received in the market, with 27 banks joining the Mandated Lead Arrangers.

The transaction achieved an impressive oversubscription of 261% over its launch amount of $90,000,000 to close at $325,000,000.

The Facility comprises of a $85,000,000 1 year tranche ('Tranche A') and a $240,000,000 2 year tranche ('Tranche B').

The Facility also includes a third 2 year tranche ('Tranche C') of EUR 20,000,000. Tranche C was not syndicated to the market.

The Facility pays a margin of 70bps p.a. for Tranche A and a margin of 100bps p.a. for Tranche B. Proceeds will be used by BSTDB to refinance its $150,000,000 Syndicated Term Loan Facility dated 22 November 2007 and for general corporate funding purposes.

The signing ceremony took place on 18th September 2008 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Mr Mohammad Kamran Wajid, Global Head - Financial Institutions Emirates NBD commented

'This transaction represents the first time that Emirates NBD has acted as an arranger on a financing for a Multilateral Development Bank. The outstanding success of this transaction, in extremely difficult market conditions, not only underscores the credentials of Black Sea Trade and Development Bank as well as the strengths and capabilities of the arranger group, but is also a confidence booster and clearly highlights the fact that the markets are still willing to absorb transactions with good fundamentals despite the prevailing global uncertainty. I believe that it is high time for the global financial fraternity to come together and work closely with each other on such confidence building measures in order to ease investor sentiment which has taken a severe battering in the wake of recent blood bath on Wall Street. As the leading Middle Eastern arranger of debt capital market transactions, Emirates NBD will continue to act as the torch bearer in exploring sound and attractive investment opportunities across the globe and bringing these opportunities to the doorstep of our fellow investors.'

Description of the Borrower
BSTDB is an international financial institution established as a Multilateral Development Bank under a UN registered treaty in 1994.

BSTDB holds a Long Term rating of Baa1 from Moody's and a Short Term rating of P2. On 11 December 2007, the Long Term rating was assigned a positive outlook.

BSTDB is headquartered in Greece, and the shareholders are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.

With an authorized capital of SDR3bn (approx. $4.9bn as at 30 June 2008), BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing trade and project financing, guarantees, and equity for development projects supporting both public and private enterprises in its member countries.

The purpose of BSTDB is to accelerate development and promote co-operation among its shareholder countries.

BSTDB supports regional trade and investment, providing financing for commercial transactions and projects in order to help Member States to establish stronger economic linkages.

Two separate strategies support BSTDB's operations: Sector strategies, for such sectors as Energy and SMEs and Country strategies for each of the 11 BSTDB Member Countries.