The South African Reserve Bank is pleased to announce the successful conclusion of a dual tranche syndicated term loan facility for a total amount of USD 1 billion. The Bank embarked on negotiations with foreign banks to enter into a syndicated term loan equally divided between a three-year and a five-year tranche. The facility documentation was signed in London on 09 July 2002. The transaction was over-subscribed with the Mandated Lead Arrangers, Lead Arrangers and Arrangers prepared to commit USD1, 725 billion to the facility. The international banking community has thus been willing to commit significantly more than the Reserve Bank has indicated it would take up. Against the background of a transaction-period characterised by risk aversion and some turbulence in the world financial markets, the relatively short period of time in which the transaction was concluded not only bears testimony to strong banking relationships, but also represents a clear vote of confidence in the soundness of the country’s fundamentals and its management of fiscal and monetary policies. The Reserve Bank has not previously borrowed for a five-year period, and this five-year tranche of the facility sets a useful benchmark for other South Africa borrowers. The facility is available to be utilised in both US Dollars and Euro at margins of 70 bps and 90 bps per annum over LIBOR/EURIBOR with regard to the three and five-year tranches, respectively. International banks were invited to join at one of the following levels: TitleCommitment amount                               Participation fee USD million3-year Tranche5-year trancheMandated Lead Arranger100.0040 bps flat70 bps flat         Lead Arranger50.0040 bps flat70 bps flatArranger25.0030 bps flat52.5 bps flat As a result of the oversubscription, the final allocations for the Lenders are as follows:  USD millionMandated Lead Arranger53.00Lead Arranger32.75Arranger20.00 Besides the 13 Mandated Lead Arrangers, 4 Lead Arrangers and 9 Arrangers joined the syndicated facility.     The final list of Lenders is as follows: Mandated Lead Arrangers Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd (The) BNP Paribas(Joint Bookrunner)China Construction Bank Citibank, N.A.(Signing and Publicity)Commerzbank Securities(Facility Agent)Credit Agricole Indosuez Dresdner Kleinwort Wassertstein(Joint Bookrunner & Documentation Agent)            ING Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd(Joint Bookrunner)Standard Bank London Limited Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation UFJ Bank Limited WestLB   Lead Arrangers Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AGGoldman Sachs InternationalLRP Landesbank Rheiland-PfalzSociëtë Gënërale Arrangers ABN AMRO Bank N.VBank of ChinaBank of MontrealBank of New York (The)Bank of TaiwanErste Bank (Malta) LimitedNatexis Banques PopulairesSwedbank (FðreningsSparbanken AB)WGZ-Bank Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank eG The proceeds of the syndicated loam would be used to finance the early repayment of the 2000 USD 1 billion syndicated loan which matures in 2003. In so doing, the Reserve Bank extends the maturity profile of the country’s foreign debt. The Reserve Bank would like to express its appreciation to the banks for supporting this important transaction. ​