Participants called for bringing all the key stakeholders of syndication financing including the investment banks under a forum to discuss the prospects, challenges and opportunities regarding syndicated loans.
They also opined that our country should find out effective processes and strategies that can lead to better management of syndication deals to build a more vibrant and sustainable financial sector.
These observations were made on the closing day of a two-day workshop titled “Mergers & Acquisitions and Syndication Financing” at the Renaissance Dhaka Hotel on Thursday.
NDB Capital Limited, one of the leading international investment banks in Bangladesh, organised the workshop.
Mr Kazi Farhan Zahir, managing director & CEO of NDB Capital Limited, initiated the first session of the workshop on syndication financing.
He took the audience through the evolution of syndication transactions in Bangladesh and cited a few successful and failed cases of such transactions in Bangladesh to explain the processes involved and challenges facing the key stakeholders.
According to Mr Zahir, “Our market is growing and so is the need for introducing complex financial instruments. We should have the ecosystem ready for data-driven holistic assessment of projects for successful syndications and the platform for introducing innovative, hybrid products for these projects as well.”
Mr Sajjad Hossain Chowdhury, vice president, NDB Capital Limited took a session on financial modelling with practical examples.
He opened the floor to the participants for their views on different aspects of project numbers and how these would affect their investment decisions.
Documentations involved in syndication financing, case studies and examples of different product solutions along with relevant term sheets were also explained during the latter sessions of the day.
Enthusiastic participation from the audience was witnessed throughout the day. The participants also opined that syndication transactions help diversify risks from the lender's perspective.
These transactions also offer multifaceted products within the same deal suiting the specific requirements of the project or the corporate unit, they stated.
Mr Md Sayadur Rahman, president, Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association gave the closing remarks.
“For the success of investment banking practices in Bangladesh, we need to work a lot more to ensure integration of expertise brought in by different types of financial institutions and capital market intermediaries to fully capitalize on their potential”, said Mr Rahman.
The two-day-long interactive workshop captured multiple aspects of M&A and syndication transactions which ended with the handover of certificates to the participants.
