(Bloomberg) -- State-run TC Ziraat Bankasi AS, Turkey’s largest lender by assets, has secured a one-year sustainability-linked syndicated loan of $1.7 billion, a record amount with the widest participation for any Turkish bank.

With the new facility, consisting of $742 million and 884 million euros, Ziraat renewed its previous loan of $1.29 billion with a 132% roll-over ratio, Chief Executive Officer Alpaslan Cakar said in a statement. The loan came from 70 lenders from 32 countries, it said.

The loan has brought the total international borrowing for Ziraat since November to more than $4.5 billion, making the Ankara-based institution the top borrower in Turkey.

In December, Ziraat received €1.75 billion ($1.9 billion) from Deutsche Bank AG, in the largest bilateral overseas borrowing by a Turkish lender. The bank also borrowed $625 million in loans from two international banks in November.

The new loans will support foreign trade, exporters and sustainable agriculture, according to the bank.

Turkish lenders are enjoying lower costs on their foreign-currency borrowing as the country’s return to orthodox economic policies eases investor concerns, leading to a sharp decline in credit default swap rates. Akbank TAS led the way with syndications this year, signing a $600 million syndicated loan on Monday. 

Cakar said the loan’s cost was 175 basis points lower than the previous loan taken out a year ago. The statement didn’t provide details on the cost of the borrowing, though Bloomberg reported earlier that it would be at a spread of 2.5 percentage points above the Secured Overnight Financing Rate for the dollar portion and 2.25 percentage points above Euribor for the Euro tranche. 

Ziraat Bank is owned entirely by Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund, which also owns stakes in Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS and Turkiye Vakiflar Bankasi TAO.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC and Emirates NBD Capital Limited acted as coordinators and bookrunners while Emirates NBD Capital Limited, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. were ESG coordinators. The facility agent was Mizuho Bank Ltd.

(Updates throughout with former loan deals.)

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