Azerbaijan, Baku, April 13/Trend, N. Ismailova
Azerbaijan's Texnika Bank in 2011 plans to place another issue of its bonds on foreign capital markets, the bank's Board Chairman Samir Huseynov reported Wednesday.
"We conducted talks with investors and decided to wait for the situation at foreign markets to improve. According to the domestic policy, the bank's foreign borrowings should not exceed 30 percent of its combined liabilities. The figure is now about three percent and thereby we have the opportunity to make foreign borrowings", said Huseynov.
There is strong likelihood that the measure will be implemented this year, according to him. Amount of the issue will depend on investors' interest.
"Prior to the issue, we plan to obtain securities rating from Fitch Ratings and Moody's", Huseynov noted.
To place the first issue of its unsecured Eurobonds, the bank registered the company Texnika Finance B. V. in the Netherlands. Through issuing those bonds, Texnika Bank could borrow a loan of $26 million at interest rate of 12.75 percent with the maturity of the loan in 2009. Fitch Rating assigned long-term rating B- to the bank's bonds and the RR4 asset recurrence rating.
Another rating agency - Moody's Investors Service - in 2008 assigned long-term rating B2 to the Eurobonds of Texnika Bank, with the rating's "negative" forecast.
Texnika Bank has been operational in Azerbaijan since 1993 and was the 100-percent Azerbaijan-owned bank until 2007.Currently, the majority stockholder (75 percent) of the bank is the World Wines. The bank's Observation Board Chairman Etibar Mamedov and US's Kazimir Investment Caspian Fund hold 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively.