International Financing Review February 29 2020 61LOANS EMEA4HEûlNANCINGûISûSECUREDûONûlNANCIALûANDû
registered pledges over the shares, registered
pledges on all bank accounts, assets and rights
in WPM, TotalMoney, Domodi and Wakacje.SPAIN
EL CORTE INGLES SIGNS €2bn REFIPrivately-held Spanish department store
operator EL CORTE INGLES has signed a €2bn
syndicated loan to replace its €3.65bn loan,
of which €2.05bn was outstanding.
4HEûlNANCING ûWHICHûISûSTRUCTUREDûASûANû
investment-grade loan, provides El Corte
Ingles with stable long-term funding at a
lower cost without requiring guarantees or
collateral.
7ITHûANûINITIALûlVE
YEARûMATURITYûPLUSûTWOû
ONE
YEARûEXTENSIONûOPTIONS ûTHEûlNANCINGû
comprises a €900m term loan and a €1.1bn
revolving credit facility for working capital.4HEûlNANCINGûINCLUDESûMARGINSûLINKEDûTOû
the achievement of certain sustainability
targets in line with El Corte Ingles’
corporate social responsibility strategies.
4HEûRElNANCINGûAGREEMENTûALSOûINCLUDESû
the possibility of transferring up to €2.5bn
of real estate assets to the company’s new
real estate division without triggering an
early repayment of the debt.
4HEûlNANCINGûISûPROVIDEDûBYûBanco
Santander, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Caixabank,
UniCredit, Banco Sabadell, Credit Agricole CIB,
Bankia, Bank of America, Societe Generale,
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Intesa Sanpaolo, BBK,
Commerzbank, Raiffeisen Bank, Ibercaja,
Liberbank, Targobank, ICBC, Cooperativa,
Aresbank and Deutsche Bank.
%Lû#ORTEû)NGLESûPREVIOUSûlNANCINGûWASûPUTû
in place in January 2018 via Banco Santander,
Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
4HEûlNANCINGûCOMPRISEDûAûõBNû
MONTHû
bridge loan with two six-month extension
OPTIONSûAûõBNûlVE
YEARûTERMûLOANûANDûAûõBNûlVE
YEARûREVOLVINGûCREDITûFACILITY
El Corte Ingles is rated BB+ by S&P and
Fitch.SWITZERLAND
GLOBAL BLUE DETAILS REFITax-free shopping and payment company
GLOBAL BLUEûHASûDETAILEDûITSûRElNANCINGû
ahead of its proposed listing on the New
York Stock Exchange through a merger with
special purpose acquisition vehicle Far Point
Acquisition.
4HEûlVE
YEARûlNANCINGûCOMPRISESûAû
€630m term loan and a €100m revolving
credit facility, which will replace Global
Blue’s €630m term loan and €80m RCF.
The term loan pays an initial margin of
200bp over Euribor while the RCF pays an
initial 175bp, subsequently ratcheting on a
leverage grid.Norilsk Nickel sparks life into Russian
loan market
RUSSIA Biggest pipeline of deals since sanctions introduced in 2014Nickel and palladium producer NORILSK NICKEL‘s
completed US$4.15bn facility is expected to
be the first of a number of syndicated loans for
Russian borrowers that are expected to hit the
market in the coming months, after more than
five years of limited dealflow in the country.
Russian corporates have effectively been shut
out of the international loan market
since sanctions were imposed in 2014 in
response to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
However, Norilsk’s landmark loan suggests that
fortunes for the country’s borrowers could be
changing.
Norilsk’s five-year facility is the largest
and cheapest unsecured syndicated loan for
a Russian corporate since sanctions were
introduced, and bankers said there is a growing
pipeline of deals.
“Activity is increasing very rapidly,” said one
banker. “I haven’t seen this sort of pipeline since
before the sanctions.”
The pipeline includes a roughly US$1bn deal
for another metals and mining company that
has not been to the market since 2014, which
will close in the second week of March, the
banker said.
CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW is also looking to
refinance the one-year tranches of a US$500m
syndicated loan that it signed in April 2019,
while pulp and paper group ILIM is closing a
US$750m five-year loan.“We are talking to several fertiliser and metals
and mining companies,” the banker said.
Some bankers are, however, cautioning
against talking about a longer term recovery in
the market.
“There is no guarantee this will continue into
the second half of the year and we are nowhere
near the tens of deals a month we were seeing in
2013,” a second banker said.NICKEL BACK
Norilsk Nickel signed an amendment with
its banks that increases the funding limit to
US$4.15bn on its US$2.5bn 2017 syndicated
loan.
The facility, coordinated by ING, is divided
between the two tranches that made up
the original 2017 loan - a US$2bn facility A
and a US$500m facility B - and a new up to
US$1.65bn facility that can be drawn at any
point in the next nine months.
The original tranches have been extended
by two years and now mature in 2024. The new
money tranche has a five-year maturity from
drawdown.
As well as being the biggest internationally
syndicated loan to close in the market since
sanctions were imposed, it is also the cheapest
unsecured dollar loan with this tenor. The facility
pays 140bp over Libor, down from 175bp on the
original loan.“It was a great opportunity for banks to put
capital to work,” the second banker said. “It’s
investment-grade so most banks can play in it.
Even SMBC, which can’t look below investment-
grade, is in this bank group. It was a moment
where supply met demand.”
That contrasts with the first half of 2019, which
was characterised by a pricing disconnect between
lenders and borrowers, underpinned by an
uncertainty at that time as to whether the Federal
Reserve was going to increase interest rates and a
more general lack of borrower appetite.
This year borrowers are keen to follow Norilsk
Nickel and negotiate better terms for their
financings.
“It’s very different to last year. The first half of
this year will be extremely good,” said the second
banker. “The Russian economy is doing very
well compared to most of western Europe and
borrowers are keen to lock in cheaper liquidity.”
Norilsk Nickel’s funds will be used to finance
capital expenditure and for general corporate
purposes as well as refinancing.
Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of
China, China Construction Bank, Citibank,
Commerzbank, Credit Agricole, Credit Suisse,
Deutsche Bank, Banca IMI, Vseobecna uverova
banka, CIB Bank, JP Morgan, Mizuho, MUFG,
Natixis, Raiffeisenbank, Societe Generale, SMBC
and UniCredit were mandated lead arrangers.
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