Mozambique paid $35 million for VTB shipyard loan

Mozambique, one of the world's poorest countries, paid $35 million in up-front "arrangement fees" for a $500 million loan organised by Russia's VTB Bank, according to loan related documents reviewed by Reuters. In percentage terms - seven percent - the fees are several times what some bankers say is typically paid on such deals.
The loan was made in 2014 to state-owned Mozambique Asset Management (MAM), which was set up to oversee construction of shipyards in the capital, Maputo, and the northern town of Pemba. MAM missed a $178 million repayment due on May 23, putting the government on track for default if it fails to honour a state guarantee or renegotiate the debt with creditors.
The MAM debt is part of $2 billion that Mozambique has borrowed through bonds and loans since 2013 in deals that were not reported to parliament. Mozambique law requires parliament to authorise such borrowing. The full extent of Mozambique's borrowing emerged in April when the government informed the International Monetary Fund about the previously undisclosed loans. As a consequence of the disclosure, the IMF suspended aid to Mozambique.
Parliament authorized a commission of inquiry into the borrowing this week after a two-day emergency debate on the issue, according to state media. So far, there has been no official apportionment of blame. In a BBC radio interview last month, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the lack of transparency by the Mozambique government in its borrowing was "clearly concealing corruption". She did not elaborate.
The arrangement fees charged to MAM under the terms of the VTB loan amount to 7 percent of the sum borrowed, according to the loan document and a November 13, 2015 letter from VTB's investment arm, VTB Capital, to the Maputo office of audit firm Ernst and Young. It was unclear what, if any, role EY played. EY in Maputo declined to comment for this article.
Three Johannesburg-based bankers with experience of arranging African sovereign debt deals told Reuters the charges were excessive, with 1 percent being the industry norm.
"If it's a really complicated credit, you might push it up to 2 percent," said one of the bankers, who did not wish to be named because of the commercial sensitivity of investment banking fees. In response to questions from Reuters, VTB said the terms of the six-year loan had stipulated annual interest of 8.87 percent over the floating London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).