Times City is one of the Vingroup's development projects in Ha Noi.— Photo Vingroup

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Vingroup announced the signing of a US$250 million international syndicated loan agreement to finance their development projects on Wednesday.

According to Vingroup, the three-year amortizing loan pays coupon of Libor + 5.5 per cent p.a [Libor stands for London interbank offered rate]. The first $100 million would be available for disbursement this month.

Credit Suisse AG, Singapore Branch and Maybank Investment Bank Berhad were Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners ("MLABs") and Deutsche Bank AG and Singapore Branch were Mandated Lead Arranger ("MLA") of the loan. Besides being one of the MLABs, Credit Suisse acted as Coordinator for the loan. General syndication will be launched by the end of October.

Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vingroup's Vice Chairwoman and CEO, said the fundraising success proved that international financial institutions were prepared to support Vietnamese companies with a proven track record, adding that the funding would offer another source of capital to other Vietnamese corporations.

The deal made Vingroup the first Vietnamese real estate company to successfully tap into the international syndicated loan market. Vingroup was also the first Vietnamese company to issue offshore convertible bonds, raising gross proceeds of US$100 million in 2009 and accessing the convertible bond market again in 2012 with a US$300 million issuance.

In May, Vingroup and a Warburg Pincus consortium entered into definitive agreements for the consortium to invest $200 million to acquire an approximately 20 per cent equity interest in Vincom Retail, a subsidiary of Vingroup that owns, operates and develops the largest portfolio of shopping malls across Viet Nam.— VNS