Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In April 2021, a syndicate of eight banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a €350 million EUR Schuldschein club loan agreement with Deutsche Lufthansa AG — Germany's flag carrier airline headquartered in Cologne and one of the world's largest airlines — for unspecified purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of three years. Record ID#104691 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#104692 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to BOC and ICBC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB), Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba), Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), Commerzbank AG, DZ Bank AG, and UniCredit S.p.A. All lenders served as arrangers, and two or three were reported to have sold part of their exposure to others after the close of transaction.
Staff comments
1. The individual contributions of the eight lenders to this €350 million EUR syndicated loan are unknown. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of BOC and ICBC by assuming that each lender contributed an equal amount (€43,750,000 EUR) to the loan syndicate. 2. The Schuldschein loan is a German law debt product. Schuldschein loans do not legally constitute a security: a Schuldschein is not a note or a bond. Instead, a Schuldschein loan constitutes a standardised loan contract under the German Civil Code which is evidenced by a certificate of indebtedness. The only legal function of the certificate of indebtedness is to evidence that the issuer of the certificate owes the amount set out within it (subject to its terms). The certificate does not constitute a payment claim in and of itself. Because a Schuldschein loan does not constitute a security, it cannot be listed or traded on a stock exchange. The Market Abuse Regulation, other post listing obligations and formal prospectus rules do not apply. Schuldschein loans can be secured or unsecured and can involve a single lender or multiple lenders. Typically a Schuldschein is unsecured and initially owing to a single lender who then syndicates it. This is especially the case where unregulated investors wish to invest in Schuldscheine, because investing into a Schuldschein in the "primary market" is a regulated banking activity in the form of bank lending.