Two Turkish state banks complete pricing for capital strengthening tool

Turkiye Kalkinma ve Yatirim Bankasi

22/04/2019 07:50

ISTANBUL, April 22 (Reuters) - Turkish state-owned lenders
Ziraat Bank and Vakifbank completed pricing of perpetual bonds
worth a total 2.1 billion euros  ($2.36 billion), the banks said
late on Friday, using a tool to strengthen capital.
    State lender Ziraat Bank, Turkey's largest bank by asset
size, has priced its Additional Tier 1 (AT1) notes worth 1.4
billion euros, the bank said in a stock exchange filing.
    Earlier this month, Turkey pledged 28 billion lira to boost
the capital level of state banks and relieve bad debts in a
sector left reeling by last year's crisis, as the country moved
to revive an economy plagued by double digit inflation and
recession.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N21S25X
    After last year's currency crisis - in which the lira
 TRYTOM=D3  shed around 30 percent of its value against the U.S.
dollar - Turkey's state banks began actively providing loan
restructurings to companies and spreading low-interest credit to
individuals as part of a broader government effort to stem the
damage.
    Vakifbank  VAKBN.IS  said pricing of its AT1 notes with a
nominal value of 700 million euro has been finalised on April
18.
    Economists have raised concern over a spike in the Turkish
banking sector's non-performing loan ratio. Finance Minister
Berat Albayrak said last week the ratio stands around 4.2
percent and described it as "quite good."
    Last week, Halkbank  HALKB.IS  said it plans to issue debt
instruments or borrow in the Turkish market and abroad, to meet
its Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital requirements.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N21Z2WI
    Turkey's Kalkinma Bank  KLNMA.IS  and Eximbank authorised
headquarters to secure loans to support capitals last week. 
($1 = 0.8896 euros)

 (Reporting by Can Sezer
Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; 
Editing by Daren Butler)
 ((ezgi.erkoyun@thomsonreuters.com; +90-212-350 7051; Reuters
Messaging: ezgi.erkoyun.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net;))