International Financing Review March 21 2020 61LOANS EMEAFRANCE
NEOEN GOES SUSTAINABLERenewable energy producer NEOEN has
agreed a debut €200m syndicated loan with
margins linked to the company’s
environmental, social and governance
targets.
4HEûlNANCINGûCOMPRISESûAûõMûAMORTISINGû
term loan and a €75m revolving credit facility
that mature at the end of July 2024.
Margins are linked to the company’s
performance towards two ESG goals:
corruption prevention and an independent
ESG rating from Vigeo Eiris.
Neoen’s ESG performance will be assessed
annually.
A group of 14 banks is providing the
lNANCING ûWHICHûWASûCOORDINATEDûBYûBNP
Paribas, Natixis and Societe Generale as
mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.
CIC Est, Credit Lyonnais, HSBC France, Banque
.EUmIZEû/"#, Barclays, Arkea Banque, Banque
Palatine, Caisse d’Epargne CEPAC, Caisse
Regionale de Credit Agricole Mutuel d’Aquitaine,
Credit du Nord and La Banque Postale also
participated.
Natixis was also sustainability
coordinator, documentation agent and
facility agent.MAUREL & PROM RESETS REPAYMENTSOil and gas exploration and production
company MAUREL & PROM has agreed a
rescheduling of repayments on its loans to
SECUREûLIQUIDITYûANDûBETTERûREmECTûTHEû
COMPANYSûCASHmOWûGENERATIONûANDû
INVESTMENTûPROlLE
The amendment covers a US$600m
syndicated term loan and a drawn US$100m
shareholder loan from Pertamina
International, which were put in place in
December 2017.
Repayments on both facilities have been
reduced in 2020 and 2021, while a
SIGNIlCANTûAMOUNTûOFûTHEûREPAYMENTûOFûTHEû
shareholder loan has been pushed to 2024
BEYONDûTHEûlNALûMATURITYûOFûTHEûTERMûLOAN
The term loan was provided by a
syndicate of MUFG, Natixis, PT Bank
Mandiri, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Credit
Agricole CIB, DBS, ING Bank, HSBC and PT
Bank Negara Indonesia.
The loan pays 150bp over Libor.
Sixteen quarterly repayments start in
-ARCHûûUNTILûlNALûMATURITYûINû
December 2023.
The shareholder loan, which includes a
US$100m undrawn tranche, pays 160bp
over Libor with seventeen quarterly
repayments beginning in December 2020
UNTILûTHEûlNALûMATURITYûINû$ECEMBERûIn return for the amendment, M&P will
cap its dividend distribution at US$15m for
2021 and 2022.
At the end of February, M&P had
US$267m cash, and net debt of US$433m.
The company can also immediately unlock
additional liquidity thanks to the undrawn
US$100m tranche of the shareholder loan.GERMANY
BERTELSMANN TAPS FOR PENGUINMedia and education group BERTELSMANN has
SIGNEDûAûõMûLOANûTOûlNANCEûITSû
acquisition of publisher Penguin Random
House.
Mandated lead arrangers on the
transaction were BNP Paribas, Barclays and
NatWest.
Hengeler Mueller advised BNP Paribas on
the loan.
Bertelsmann agreed in December to
acquire Pearson’s 25% stake in Penguin
Random House for US$675m, bringing its
stake to 100%.
Bertelsmann initially held 53% of Penguin
Random House, and Pearson 47%. In 2017,
Bertelsmann increased its stake to 75%.
The acquisition is expected to close in the
second quarter.Borrowers evaluate virus impact
EUROPE UK gaming company Rank sees sharp decline in tradingEuropean companies from a wide range of
sectors are continuing to assess the financial
impact of the coronavirus outbreak as they work
to mitigate the disruption caused by its spread.
A/A3-rated British multinational contract
foodservice company COMPASS GROUP said
containment measures adopted by governments
and clients in Continental Europe and North
America had impacted its expectations for the
first half.
The vast majority of the company’s sports and
leisure and education business in these regions
have been closed, while its business and industry
volumes are being severely impacted.
Although the company is implementing
significant mitigation plans to protect cashflow
and pro-actively manage capital expenditure
and working capital, Compass expects first-half
operating profit to be £125m to £225m lower
than expected.
The company said it had significant headroom
against a 4.0 times net debt-to-Ebitda covenant
in its US private placement agreements as well
as substantial liquidity with a £2bn revolving
credit facility maturing in 2024.Stable outlooks have recently been
reconfirmed on our A/A3 credit ratings.GAME OFF
UK gaming company RANK GROUP has seen a
slowdown in trading across its UK venues over
the past three weeks with a sharper decline in
the past few days.
The company’s venues in Spain and Belgium
have closed following movement restrictions.
Rank’s digital business is operating as
normal with employees able to work from
home and the company is providing additional
opportunities for its venues players to socialise
and play online.
After the UK government guided consumers
to avoid leisure venues, Rank’s modelling
shows that the impact of closures would result
in monthly net cash costs of around £25m
before mitigating actions or around £17m with
mitigation. The company also has tax and duty
payments of around £40m due in April.
Net debt at the end of February was £32m
funded through the £128m loan out in place in
2019 to fund the acquisition of online gamingoperator Stride Gaming. The company also has
a £85m undrawn RCF, £30m of which matures
in September, £40m in 2024 and £15m in
2025.
Total available cash and facilities after
customer deposits at the end of February was
£163m.
French-based European shopping mall
operator and investor KLEPIERRE has been
impacted by the closure of non-essential retail
outlets in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland
and the Czech Republic as well as restricted
opening hours for certain stores in Portugal,
Norway and Denmark.
The company has been in talks with its
tenants over the challenges the virus is
presenting and has already initiated stringent
cost cuts in order to pass on service charge
savings to them.
Klepierre, which is also actively reducing non-
essential capital expenditures and non-staff
operating expenses, said it had a solid balance
sheet and enough committed revolving credit
facilities to cover its liquidity needs.
Alasdair Reilly9 IFR Loans 2325 p 55 - XX.indd 61 20 / 03 / 2020 19 : 00 : 39