IFR - 07.07.2018

LOANS EMEA

The bridge loan will be provided by Nordea
IFûAûPLANNEDûUPûTOû.+RBNû53M ûBONDû
is not issued before the completion of the
acquisition.
Joint global coordinators on the bond are
Arctic Securities ANDû.ORDEA
The acquisition is also being backed with
AûFULLYûUNDERWRITTENû.+RBNû53M û
rights issue.
Joint global coordinators on the rights issue
are Arctic Securities, Danske Bank and DNB.
The acquisition, which does not include
Bergen Engines or Rolls-Royce’s naval
BUSINESSûISûEXPECTEDûTOûCLOSEûDURINGûTHEûlRSTû
quarter of 2019.

RUSSIA

EUROCHEM SIGNS US$820m LOAN

Fertiliser producer EUROCHEM has signed an
53MûTHREE
YEARûUNSECUREDûlNANCEû
facility with 13 international banks.
UniCredit Bank, Raiffeisenbank and Raiffeisen
Bank International coordinated the deal.
UniCredit Bank, Credit Agricole CIB and ING
are bookrunners and mandated lead
arrangers.
Mandated lead arrangers include Bank of
China, China Construction Bank, Citibank,
Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Rosbank, Raiffeisen
Bank International and Raiffeisenbank.
UniCredit Bank was also facility agent.
The loan has a two-year grace period and will
BEûUSEDûTOûRElNANCEûPARTûOFû%URO#HEMSûDEBT

“In the current market environment we

HAVEûBEENûABLEûTOûRElNANCEûPARTûOFûOURûDEBTû

on attractive terms. The facility was also

OVERSUBSCRIBEDûWHICHûREmECTSû%URO#HEMSû

STRONGûCREDITûPROlLEûANDûTHEûLEVELûOFûSUPPORTû

we have among the international banks,”

said Ruslan Karmanny, head of corporate

lNANCEûANDûTREASURY

EuroChem was last in the market in

/CTOBERûWHENûITûSIGNEDûAû53MûlVE

YEARû

UNSECUREDûLOANûWITHûAûCLUBûOFûBANKSû).'û

was coordinator and documentation agent,

while UniCredit Bank was facility agent.

SPAIN

EUROPAC AMENDS AND EXTENDS

Paper and paperboard group EUROPAC has

AMENDEDûANDûEXTENDEDûITSûEXISTINGû

syndicated loan for €260m, reducing

INTERESTûANDûEXTENDINGûTHEûMATURITYûOFûTHEû

loan by two years to 2024.

Pricing has been cut by 20bp to around

100bp–135bp over Euribor.

4HEûlNANCINGûWASûORIGINALLYûAGREEDûINû

July 2015 for €290m via bookrunning

mandated lead arrangers Bankia, Banco

Popular Espanol, Banco Santander and

Rabobank.

Mandated lead arrangers were BBVA and

#AIXABANKûWHILEûPARTICIPANTSûWEREû"ANCOû

3ABADELLû(3"#û)#/ûANDû"ANCOû"0)

4HEûlNANCINGûWASûAMENDEDûANDûEXTENDEDû

in December 2016, cutting the margin by

20bp to 120bp–155bp over Euribor and

EXTENDINGûTHEûMATURITYûBYûONE

YEARûTOû*ULYû

2022.

Europac also renewed its commercial paper

PROGRAMMEûONûTHEû!LTERNATIVEû&IXEDû)NCOMEû

-ARKETûINCREASINGûTHEûMAXIMUMûAMOUNTûTOû

õMûFROMûõMûTOûHELPûREDUCEûlNANCEû

costs and diversify sources of funding.

UK corrugated packaging company DS

Smith said in June that it is bidding €1.67bn

for Europac, backing the deal with a €746m

loan from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.

SWEDEN

ACADEMEDIA NETS SKR2.5bn

Education provider ACADEMEDIA has signed a

3+RBNû53M   ûLOANûRElNANCINGûONû

improved terms.

4HEûlNANCINGûWHICHûINCLUDESûAû3+RMû

revolving credit facility for acquisitions or

OPERATIONALûLIQUIDITYûEXTENDSû!CADE-EDIASû

EXISTINGûFACILITIESûBYûTHREEûYEARSûTOûTHEû

middle of 2023.

4HEûlNANCINGûISûBEINGûPROVIDEDûBYû

EXISTINGûLENDERSûNordea and DNB.

!CADE-EDIAûEXPECTSûTOûSAVEûAROUNDû

SKr10m in interest costs per year on the

RElNANCINGûWHILEûTHEûFACILITYûALSOûPROVIDESû

IMPROVEDûlNANCIALûmEXIBILITYûINCLUDINGûANû

increased net-debt-to-Ebitda covenant.

Annual repayments total SKr150m.

Additional debt may be raised after

further credit approvals.

raised sizable amounts of cheap cash over the
last couple of years so they will just sit on that
for now.”
“The pipeline is very low so the second half
won’t even keep up with the first half.”

GULF GLOOM
Mobile telecommunications company ZAIN SAUDI
ARABIA’s refinancing of its SR5.9bn (US$1.57bn)
five-year syndicated murabaha facility was the
largest of only a handful of Middle Eastern deals
to close in the second quarter.
In recent years, the Middle East has been the
stalwart of a flagging CEEMEA loan market with
the jumbo US$16bn refinancing for the KINGDOM OF
SAUDI ARABIA accounting for over half of CEEMEA’s
loan volume in the first quarter of 2018.
Dwindling deal flow in the last three months
has meant pricing on loans that do make it to
market has plunged, as banks fight to book
business. That increased competition to win
mandates means that some of the larger
international banks have been priced out of the
market by regional lenders.
KUWAIT FOREIGN PETROLEUM EXPLORATION
COMPANY (Kufpec), a subsidiary of state-owned

KUWAIT PETROLEUM CORP, is seeking a five-year

loan of over US$1bn, which bankers say is paying

an all-in price of 85bp over Libor, giving some

international lenders no choice but to step away

from the deal.

“There are one or two of the larger (Middle

Eastern) regional banks driving pricing down

recently. They are being very aggressive on

Kufpec to the extent that now we can’t do it,

especially as there is no side business,” said the

first banker.

In Africa, a seven-year US$750m deal for the

REPUBLIC OF KENYA raised via Kenya’s Trade and

Development Bank was the highlight of the

second quarter, during which borrowing levels

were also subdued.

As with the Middle East, pricing has also fallen

in Africa. Ghanaian COCOBOD’s latest annual

US$1.3bn funding for it cocoa crops, which is in

general syndication, carries pricing of 60 bp over

Libor – 5bp lower than its 2017 loan.

That cut is despite the challenges the

company faces due to its outstanding debt to

the central bank and costs of maintaining what

it pays farmers in the face of a steep decline in

global prices last year.

RUSSIAN STAGNATION

Russian deal flow has remained consistent with

2017 levels despite fresh sanctions announced by US

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on April 6 against

seven Russian oligarchs, 12 of their companies and 17

senior Russian government officials.

In an already quiet market, the sanctions had

little discernible effect on deal flow in the second

quarter with those banks still open to lending to

Russian borrowers remaining unfazed.

Fertiliser businesses EUROCHEM and URALKALI

both closed pre-export financings in June –

Eurochem agreed a US$820m three-year loan

and Uralkali took a US$825m five-year facility.

“Sanctions are irrelevant – you see Eurochem,

Uralkali and METALLOINVEST still able to attract

capital. Most international banks will continue to

fund these relationship names,” said a third banker.

In addition, Uralkali’s loan pays a margin of

190bp over Libor compared with the 220bp paid

for the company’s previous loan in August 2017.

It highlights how the new sanctions have had

little effect on the downward trajectory of pricing

for Russian borrowers, with competition to lead

deals still intense.

Sandrine Bradley