ARMECONOMBANK OF ARMENIA, EBRD EXTEND REPAYMENT OF $5MLN TRANCHE OF SYNDICATED LOAN TILL JANUARY 2010
ARKA
Jan 22, 2009
YEREVAN, January 22. /ARKA/. Armeconombank and the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) extended the repayment
of the first $5mln worth tranche of syndicated loan from 2009 till
January 2010, Chairman of Board of Armeconombank David Sukiasyan told
journalists Thursday.
Under the agreement signed between the parties in December 2007,
$15mln worth syndicated loan funds had been used for credits to small
and medium enterprises in Armenia.
According to the recent agreement of January 20 2009, the parties
agreed to postpone the repayment of the first tranche for a year
taking into account the successful implementation of the program.
Implementation of the program under the current crisis conditions
proves that international financial institutions trust the bank,
Sukiasyan said.
The Head of OSCE Yerevan Office Michael Weinstein, in his turn,
said that the allocation of the syndicated loan to Armeconombank in
2007 was an important event for an Armenian commercial bank in the
beginning of the global financial crisis.
Now, the syndicated lending is problematic, yet the syndicate-member
banks decided to extend the repayment, Weinstein said. The shows
the international banking market is confident in Armeconombank as a
borrower and a partner, he said.
Apart from the EBRD, the following banks are the syndicated lenders:
German Commerzbank AG, Austrian Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG and
Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG, Indian State Wank of India,
Land Bank of Taiwan and British FBN Bank (UK) Limited.
"Armeconombank" open joint stock company was registered on August
26 1991. Over 75% of the bank’s shares belong to the principal
shareholders – EBRD (25% + 1 share) and the founders of "SIL" concern
Sukiasyan family (53.4%).
By December 31, assets of "Armeconombank" had totalled 50.3bln drams,
total capital – 8.7bln drams, and net profit was 512.4mln Drams in
January-December 2008. At the end of 2008, the bank had 46 branches
in the territory of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress