Volkswagen allocates 20 bln bridge loan to 13 banks - sources

By Arno Schuetze

FRANKFURT, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Volkswagen hassplit a 20 billion euro ($21.1 billion) bridge loan between 13banks to help shoulder the costs of its emissions scandal, twopeople familiar with the matter said.

Eight banks which had initially offered tranches of 2.5billion euros will supply 1.825 billion euros each, while fivebanks which offered 1.5 billion euros each will provide loansworth 1.08 billion euros, the people said.

Citi, Unicredit, Barclays, Bank ofTokyo-Mitsubishi, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Mizuho, Societe Generale have granted the largertickets, with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America,Santander, BBVA, Credit Agricole supplying the rest, they added.

VW and the banks declined to comment, except for HSBC, BBVA,Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Mizuho, which were not immediatelyavailable for comment.

Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker, is under pressure tostrengthen its finances, with analysts expecting it will have topay out tens of billions of euros to cover fines, lawsuits andvehicle refits after it admitted to cheating U.S. dieselemissions tests and falsifying carbon dioxide emissions.

The biggest corporate scandal in the German company's78-year history has forced out its long-time CEO, wiped billionsof euros off its stock market value and hammered its bonds -making it much more expensive for the company to borrow throughits traditionally preferred route of the debt market.

Sources had told Reuters on Wednesday that Volkswagen hadagreed the terms of the bridge loan.

($1 = 0.9474 euros) (Additional reporting by Jan Schwartz; Editing by MariaSheahan)