40 International Financing Review Asia April 4 2020be no payment of dividends on ordinary
shares, and that they should not redeem
non-CET1 capital instruments,” said RBNZ
deputy governor and general manager for
financial stability Geoff Bascand.
ANZ Capital Notes were issued in March
2015 as a perpetual non-call five AT1
offering in the retail market. According
to the terms, the notes will mandatorily
convert into ANZ New Zealand shares, ifnot called, two years after the first call date.
This is the only Tier 1 note outstanding
among New Zealand’s four major banks
with no other such note issued since 2009,
when Bank of New Zealand sold NZ$250m
of 9.1% perpetual notes, BNZ Income
Securities 2, that were called in 2014.
Outside the majors, Kiwibank sold a
NZ$150m 7.25% perpetual non-call five
AT1 note in 2015, through special-purpose
funding vehicle Kiwi Capital Funding
(KCFL), which was due to be called on May
27.SYNDICATED LOANS
› VIRUS FALLOUT TRIPS ABANO TAKEOVERPrivate equity firm BGH Capital and
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan have
terminated their proposed acquisition
of ABANO HEALTHCARE GROUP as a material
adverse change has occurred, the New
Zealand-listed dental service provider saidPureCircle faces testing maturity
Loans Bitter medicine in store for lenders from stevia sweetener makerMalaysian stevia sweetener producer
PURECIRCLE is likely to face significant
challenges to repay a portion of its debut
loan due in November, after multiple
covenant breaches and in the unfavourable
business environment due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
The London-listed group may not have
sufficient liquidity until a US$100m revolving
credit facility matures on November 30 and
is likely to breach certain conditions and
covenants that were waived and amended as
recently as last Friday, the company said in a
stock exchange filing last Tuesday.
PureCircle’s directors are trying to have the
suspension of the company’s shares lifted,
but there is a risk this may not occur by April
30 as required under the amended facility
covenant.
“The group’s liquidity will be tight and our
projections indicate that we will break our
reset covenants,” the filing said. “The group
is exploring alternative financing options
to refinance its existing term loan before it
matures in November 2020.”
These options will include obtaining a
definitive new equity infusion, full debtrefinancing or sale and leaseback of
refinery plant facilities, PureCircle said in
the filing.
Under the terms of the waivers and
amendments, PureCircle will have access to
a US$100m revolving credit facility, which
is part of a larger US$200m senior secured
financing, following the receipt of the
audited financial statements. The remaining
US$100m portion is a four-year tranche due
in December 2021, according to Refinitiv LPC
data.
The group did not satisfy all of the
conditions of the agreement, but this breach
was waived on March 27, according to the
filing. The facility also contains certain other
conditions.
On February 18, PureCircle agreed an
amendment to its existing US$200m
financing after issues emerged last year
with the way the company had reported and
valued inventory.
The amendment provided a full waiver
of all previous defaults on the debt with
all lenders also agreeing to amend the
covenants to be tested on March 31 and
June 30. The company also obtainedan additional US$8.6m in liquidity from
certain shareholders through an unsecured
subordinated loan.
PureCircle sought waivers on the debt after
discovering issues with its classification and
valuation of inventory in September 2019.
It found that inventory was lower by around
US$23m and consequently increased the
cost of goods sold by the same amount. The
effect was spread across financial years 2018
and 2019, with potentially a relatively modest
adjustment to 2017.
HSBC was the mandated lead arranger
and bookrunner of the 2017 debut loan,
which attracted five others. It pays margins
ranging from 235bp to 285bp over Libor,
according to Refinitiv LPC data.
PureCircle announced a net loss of
US$79.7m for 2019 on Tuesday after taking
charges for the earlier inventory misreporting.
Its shares have been suspended since late
October.
The group’s net debt was reduced from
US$68.6m at the end of December 2019
mainly due to a US$35m share placement
and a US$20m repayment of the loan.
CHIEN MI WONGTop bookrunners of all Malaysian ringgit bonds
1/1/20 – 31/3/20
Amount
Name Issues M$(m) %
1 CIMB Group 16 6,457.7 30.9
2 AMMB 7 2,519.8 12.1
3 Maybank 11 2,471.7 11.8
4 RHB 9 2,446.9 11.7
5 K&N Kenanga 12 1,944.6 9.3
6 Hong Leong Financial 6 1,645.6 7.9
7 Affin 4 1,010.0 4.8
8 Public Bank 6 768.3 3.7
9 Standard Chartered 3 675.0 3.2
10 OCBC 3 475.9 2.3
Total 47 20,916.8
*Market volume
Proportional credit
Source: Refinitiv data SDC Code: AS8Top bookrunners of Malaysia syndicated loans
1/1/20 – 31/3/20
Amount
Name Deals US$(m) %
1 Maybank 1 300.0 50.8
2* AMMB 1 96.7 16.4
2* HSBC 1 96.7 16.4
2* Bank Islam Malaysia 1 96.7 16.4
Total 2 590.1
* Based on market of syndication and market total
Proportional credit
Source: Refinitiv data SDC Code: S14bMalaysia global equity and equity-related
1/1/20 – 31/3/20
Amount
Name Issues US$(m) %
1 RHB 3 52.5 25.6
2 CIMB Group 2 33.5 16.4
3 Mercury Sec 6 29.3 14.3
4 M and A Sec 5 9.6 4.7
5 KAF Investment Bank 2 9.4 4.6
6 Alliance Bank (Malaysia) 3 7.4 3.6
7* K&N Kenanga 1 6.1 3.0
7* UOB 4 6.1 3.0
7* Hong Leong Financial 1 6.1 3.0
10* Yuanta Financial 1 5.0 2.4
10* Grand China Sec 1 5.0 2.4
10* VBG Capital 1 5.0 2.4
10* Wealth Link Sec 1 5.0 2.4
Total 34 204.7Source: Refinitiv dataB&RXQWU\LQGG