IFR 03.21.2020

60 International Financing Review March 21 2020

Bank, Dai-ichi Life insurance, Intesa Sanpaolo,

Iyo Bank, Joyo Bank, Korea Development Bank,

Shiga BankûANûUNIDENTIlEDû*APANESEû

regional bank and seven Taiwanese

lenders.

4HEûRElNANCINGûLOANûWASûOVERSUBSCRIBEDû

and increased from a US$150m target.

VIETNAM

GENERAL SYNDICATION FOR THACO UNIT

A US$130m borrowing for a real estate

subsidiary of Vietnamese auto manufacturer

Truong Hai Auto (Thaco) has been launched

into general syndication.

Maybank is the sole mandated lead

arranger and bookrunner on the 30-month

amortising loan, which carries a US$30m

greenshoe option.

The transaction has an average life of 1.9

years and pays an interest margin of 250bp

over Libor.

Banks have been invited to join at two

levels. Lead arrangers will receive top-level

all-in pricing of 279bp for commitments of

US$20m via a participation fee of 55bp,

while arrangers earn an all-in of 271bp for

tickets of US$10m via a fee of 40bp.

Meanwhile, banks are still processing

approvals in senior syndication, which was

launched last month.

The borrower is DAI QUANG MINH REAL ESTATE

INVESTMENT, while parent Thaco is the

guarantor.

0ROCEEDSûWILLûBEûUSEDûFORûRElNANCINGûANDû

general corporate purposes.

Dai Quang Minh invests in infrastructure,

urban areas and real estate in Ho Chi Minh

City, Quang Nam, Ben Tre, and Dalat.

The borrowing is the second offshore loan

from the Thaco group in recent months.

In December, Thaco increased its maiden

lVE

YEARûBORROWINGûTOû53MûFROMûANû

original US$180m target after attracting 10

lenders in general syndication.

Standard Chartered Bank was the sole

MLAB of the amortising term loan, which

pays an interest margin of 250bp over Libor.

EUROPE/MIDDLE

EAST/AFRICA

BAHRAIN

SOVEREIGN IN TALKS FOR US$1bn

BAHRAIN is in talks with banks for a loan of

about US$1bn after the Gulf state’s plans to

issue international bonds were suspended

due to bad market conditions, according to

people familiar with the matter.

The small Gulf oil producer, rated junk by

all the three major credit ratings agencies, is

seeking funds amid a slump in global oil

PRICESûTHATûISûHURTINGûITSûlNANCES

Bahrain was bailed out by some of its

wealthier Gulf allies in 2018 to stave off the

risk of a credit crisis after a prolonged period

of lower oil prices pushed its public debt to

nearly 93% of annual economic output.

The latest plunge in crude prices – due to a

market share war between Saudi Arabia and

Russia and the fallout from coronavirus – is now

STRAININGûTHEûlNANCESûOFû'ULFû!RABûSTATESûWITHû

Bahrain and Oman particularly vulnerable.

Bahrain hired a group of banks weeks ago

for a potential US dollar bond issue, but the

deal was suspended due to worsening

market conditions caused by the global

spread of the virus.

The Gulf state has now started talks with

a small group of relationship banks to raise

about US$1bn through a loan.

A loan would partly shield Bahrain from

requests from investors for higher rates.

While loan rates are linked to bond market

rates, other considerations such as banking

relationships and banks’ ancillary

businesses make loan prices less dependent

on the performance of bonds.

“A loan in this market is faster and easier

to go,” said one person. “Also, you avoid a

ROADSHOWûWHICHûISûDIFlCULTûTHESEûDAYSûWITHû

all the travel disruptions.”

DENMARK

ISS SHORES UP LIQUIDITY

Facilities services company ISS has secured

further credit lines as a precautionary

measure against the impact of the

coronavirus, which has hit levels of activity

across many of its customer sites, most

notably within its food services segment.

ISS has current liquidity of more than

DKr8bn (US$1.15bn) and no debt maturities

due in 2020. Around 90% of the company’s

debt does not mature until 2024 onwards.

The outbreak has also seen a reduction in

the demand for projects as well as its basic

contract work.

ISS is in talks with its customers and

adapting within the framework of its

contracts, while adjusting its cost base and

using any government support available.

The company is also dealing with the

fallout from a malware attack in February,

which damaged some IT assets and requires

a writedown and rebuild of part of its IT

infrastructure.

The combined one-off impact in 2020 on

FREEûCASHmOWûINCLUDINGûADDITIONALûCOSTSûANDû

system rebuilds, is estimated to be

DKr450m-DKr800m.

ISS has a €1bn unsecured revolving credit

facility maturing in 2024, which pays 60bp

over Euribor, depending on leverage.

FINLAND

UPM LINKS RCF TO BIODIVERSITY

Paper company UPM-KYMMENE has signed a

€750m sustainability-linked revolving credit

facility with margins tied to the company’s

performance against biodiversity and CO2

emissions targets.

4HEûSYNDICATEDûFACILITYûWHICHûISûTHEûlRSTû

step in building the funding base for the

company’s transformation projects, has a

lVE

YEARûMATURITYûWITHûTWOûONE

YEARû

extension options.

The margin of the RCF is linked to two

key performance indicators comprising the

achievement of a net positive impact on

biodiversity in UPM’s forests in Finland; and

a 65% reduction of CO2 emissions from fuels

and purchased electricity by 2030 from 2015

levels, in line with UPM’s commitment to

the UN Business Ambition pledge to limit

the rise of global temperatures to 1.5

degrees.

The measures used for the biodiversity

KPI are based on the comparison of natural

and commercial forests and the gap analysis

identifying the key differences between

these two forest types.

BNP Paribas, Svenska Handelsbanken and

Nordea were coordinating mandated lead

arrangers and bookrunners for the facility.

Citigroup, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole CIB,

Danske Bank, DBS Bank, DNB Bank, HSBC, JP

Morgan, OP Corporate Bank, Santander, SEB and

Swedbank were mandated lead arrangers and

bookrunners.

BNP Paribas was sustainability

coordinator.

EMEA LOANS BOOKRUNNERS – FULLY

SYNDICATED VOLUME

BOOKRUNNERS: 1/1/2020 TO DATE

Managing No of Total Share

bank or group issues US$(m) (%)

Proportional credit

Source: Refinitiv SDC code: R17

1 Deutsche Bank 18 6,031.06 8.7

2 BofA Securities 12 4,459.58 6.4

3 Commerzbank 17 4,296.64 6.2

4 UniCredit 23 4,139.90 5.9

5 Credit Agricole 20 4,050.22 5.8

6 Citigroup 11 3,343.33 4.8

7 JP Morgan 16 2,970.05 4.3

8 HSBC 15 2,674.72 3.8

9 SG 14 2,598.66 3.7

10 Santander 15 2,424.53 3.5

Total 94 69,684.91

9 IFR Loans 2325 p 55 - XX.indd 60 20 / 03 / 2020 19 : 00 : 39