Agricultural Bank of China contributes to debt rescheduling — via a one-year maturity extension in 2021 — of its €161.76 million EUR contribution to a €5.5 billion EUR syndicated loan to Telefónica for refinancing purposes (Linked to Record ID#102051, #102052, #102057, #102058, #102059, #102060, and #102062)

Project narrative

On March 15, 2018, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 34 lenders — including the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a €5.500 billion EUR ($6.80988 billion USD) syndicated term loan agreement with Telefónica, S.A. — a Spanish multinational telecommunications company — for refinancing purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of five years with two one-year extension options at the request of the borrower and a final maturity date of March 15, 2023. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to refinance and replace two existing revolving credit facilities: a €3.000 billion EUR facility signed February 18, 2016 and maturing February 2021 and a €2.500 billion EUR facility signed January 27, 2017 and maturing in February 2022. Each lender, including ABC and BOC, contributed €161.76 million EUR ($200.28 million USD) to the loan syndicate. Record ID#102051 captures ABC's contribution. Record ID#102052 captures BOC's contribution. In addition to ABC and BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: State Financial Agency (Instituto de Crédito Oficial), Banco Popular, Banco de Sabadell S.A., Barclays Bank Plc, Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA), BNP Paribas S.A., Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), CaixaBank S.A., Citigroup, Crédit Mutuel Equity, Commerzbank AG, Crédit Agricole Group, Credit Suisse AG, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., Lloyds Bank, Mediobanca Banking Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group (MHFG), Morgan Stanley, National Westminster Bank Plc (NatWest), Banco Santander S.A., Société Générale S.A. (SocGen), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), UBS AG, UniCredit S.p.A., and an unspecified bank. NatWest served as agent. As of December 31, 2018, the outstanding balance of this loan was zero. In 2019, the lending syndicate entered into another amendment agreement with the borrower; in this agreement, the maturity period of the loan was extended by one year — for a new final maturity date of March 15, 2024 — for a new maturity period of six years, in line with the extension option in the loan contract. Record ID#102057 captures ABC's contribution to the debt rescheduling. Record ID#102058 captures BOC's contribution to the debt rescheduling. As of December 31, 2019, the outstanding balance was zero. In 2020, the lending syndicate entered into another amendment agreement with the borrower; in this agreement, the maturity period of the loan was extended by one year — for a new final maturity date of March 15, 2025 — for a new maturity period of seven years, in line with the extension option in the loan contract. Record ID#102059 captures ABC's contribution to the debt rescheduling. Record ID#102060 captures BOC's contribution to the debt rescheduling. As of December 31, 2020, the outstanding balance was zero. On March 15, 2021, the lending syndicate entered into another amendment agreement with the borrower; in this agreement, the maturity period of the loan was extended by one year — for a new final maturity date of March 15, 2026 — for a new maturity period of eight years. This was not one of the originally-contracted extension options for the loan. Record ID#102061 captures ABC's contribution to the debt rescheduling. Record ID#102062 captures BOC's contribution to the debt rescheduling. As of December 31, 2021 the outstanding balance of this loan was zero. Then, on January 13, 2022, a syndicate of 30 lenders entered into another amendment agreement with the borrower; this amendment agreement changed the loan into a sustainability-linked loan (SLL) with indicators on greenhouse gas emissions reduction and the increase of women in executive positions. Furthermore, the loan became a revolving credit facility (RCF) with a maturity period of five years and two one-year extension options and was announced as "refinancing". It is unclear whether the Chinese state-owned banks continued to participate in the loan at this stage.