Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In October 2022, a syndicate of eight banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a £900 million GBP syndicated sustainability-linked revolving credit facility (RCF) agreement with Places for People Group Limited (PfP) — an England and Wales-incorporated company limited by guarantee working in property management, development, regeneration and leisure and one of the largest social housing providers in the United Kingdom — for refinancing purposes. This was fully unsecured. As a sustainability-linked loan (SLL), this RCF featured three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that measured the borrower's performance on environmental and social metrics and were in alignment with four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) and documented in line with the Loan Market Association's (LMA) Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles; the margin of the RCF's interest rate would ratchet upward and downward depending on the borrower's performance on the KPIs. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower for refinancing purposes of its regulated companies, namely by refinancing 13 bilateral bank facilities worth a combined £825 million GBP. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Barclays Bank Plc, National Westminster Bank Plc (NatWest), HSBC Bank PLC, Lloyds Bank plc, MUFG Bank, Ltd., National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), and BNP Paribas S.A. NatWest and Barclays served as joint sustainability coordinators. The loan was launched on July 22, 2022. Seven of the lenders were existing lenders to PfP and one was a new lender. This was the biggest syndicated RCF in the social housing sector.
Staff comments
1. The individual contributions of the eight lenders to this £900 million GBP syndicated loan are unknown. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of BOC by assuming that each lender contributed an equal amount (£112,500,000 GBP) to the syndicated loan.