ICBC contributes to $350 million syndicated term loan to Liberty House to facilitate the acquisition of Aluminium Dunkerque (Linked to Record ID#101334)

Project narrative

In November 9, 2018, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of nine lenders, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and ICBC Standard Bank, entered into a $350 million USD syndicated non-recourse term loan facility agreement with Liberty Industries France S.A.S. — a France-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) wholly owned by Singapore-incorporated Liberty House Pte Ltd, a United Kingdom-based industrial and metals group and subsidiary of GFG Alliance owned by Sanjeev Gupta and the British Gupta family — and Liberty House Pte Ltd to support Liberty House's acquisition of Aluminium Dunkerque. This loan carried a maturity period of five years and a final maturity date of November 9, 2023. This loan contained a staple, syndicated commodity price hedging agreement for the smelter, tailored to the asset profile and financing terms. Record ID#101333 captures ICBC's contribution. Record ID#101334 captures ICBC Standard Bank's contribution. In addition to ICBC and ICBC Standard Bank, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), BNP Paribas S.A., Morgan Stanley, Natixis, Barclays Bank PLC, Bank of Montreal, and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). BAML served as lead arranger. BAML was the sole designer, structurer, syndicator, coordinator, and manager of the commodity price hedging agreement. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to purchase Aluminium Dunkerque, Europe’s largest aluminum smelter with 570 workers and an annual capacity of 280,000 tons located in Dunkirk in northern France, from Rio Tinto for $500 million USD. The acquisition was completed on December 14, 2018. The plant was thereafter renamed Liberty Aluminium Dunkerque. In October 2021, American Industrial Partners acquired ownership of Aluminium Dunkerque after a default on debt by supply chain finance firm Greensil, a unit of the GFG Alliance filed in insolvency in March, though GFG promised to fight the takeover; AIP had entered into mezzanine financing with GFG, where a foreclosure on shares were pledged to it, allowing it to seize the asset.