The World Bank announced a simultaneous four-currency borrowing totaling about $232 million from a UNICO-affiliated group of European and Japanese cooperative banks. The average life of the borrowings will be 5.6 years.
It is the World Bank's tenth borrowing from the UNICO group of cooperative banks. Including this one, the last five have been multi-currency borrowings.
The borrowing is being coordinated by the Deutsche Genossenschaftsbank (DG-Bank) in Frankfurt. It consists of:
- A private placement of DM 250 million ($136 million), with a coupon of 5-3 / 8 percent, at par, and a final maturity of 5 years for a yield of 5.30 percent (all yields are stated on a semi-annual equivalent basis);
- A private placement of Dutch guilders totaling f, 100 million ($48 million), with a coupon of 5-3/4 percent, at par, and a final maturity of five years for a yield of 5.67 percent;
- A loan of Swf 25 billion ($16 million), with an interest rate of 4-7 / 8 percent, and a final maturity of 10 years; and
- A private placement of Yen 5 billion ($32 million), with a coupon of 4.95 percent, at par, and a final maturity of 7 years for a yield of 4.89 percent.
The World Bank's ten transactions with the UNICO group amount to about $1.5 billion and, at various stages, have involved a total 10 currencies and 14 lead-managers and co-managers.
The UNICO Banking Group was founded in 1977 by six major European cooperative banks, each of them ranking among the leading financial institutions in their respective countries. These are: DG-Bank in the Federal Republic of Germany; Rabobank in The Netherlands; Credit Agricole in France; Andelsbanken in Denmark; Okobank in Finland and GZB in Austria. They trace their origin to the 19th century European cooperative movement. Together, UNICO members have over 37,000 outlets in Europe and the major financial centers of the world.
The UNICO group also includes affiliated institutions in other European countries, Australia, Japan and Canada. Each affiliate is a major cooperative institution in its domestic market.
