Syndication & Structured Finance

A syndicated loan is a loan offered to a single borrower by multiple financial institutions, which are formed into a group, or "syndicate", of the lenders. The same terms and conditions apply to all of the lenders in the syndication. The Arranger, a lead bank amongst the other syndicate members, serves as contact point for all parties, negotiates terms and conditions, and arranges the syndicate.

After the loan agreement is signed, the Agent (usually the same bank as the Arranger appointed under the loan agreement) takes responsibility for handling the administrative tasks, such as assigning loan portions and disbursing principal and interest payments to the syndicate members.

Benefits of Syndicated Loans

• Facilitating the raising of large-scale financing
• Developing new business relationships with financial institutions
• Widely appealing to the public that your company is forward-looking
• Reducing the time and energy which must be spent negotiating lending terms with multiple financial institutions.

Major Participants in the Syndicated Loan

• The Borrower
• The Mandated Arranger & Bookrunner
• The Participating Banks
• The Agent

Syndication Process

1. Award a mandate to Taipei Fubon Bank as the Mandated Lead Arranger (MLA)
2. Provide the credit information to the MLA
3. The MLA prepares an information memo describing the transactions
4. The MLA invites a group of banks and financial institutions
5. Each bank processes its credit application
6. Legal counsel representing a group of banks drafts the facility agreement
7. Negotiate the facility agreement with banks
8. Syndicated lending and allocation are completed by the MLA
9. Sign the facility agreement with a group of banks