Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On September 30, 2019, a syndicate of at least six banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $1.900 billion AUD syndicated dual-tranche loan agreement with CIMIC Finance Limited — an Australia-incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of CIMIC Group Limited, an Australia-based engineering and civil construction firm listed on the Australian Securities Exchange but majority-owned by HOCHTIEF Australia Holdings Limited (72.8% stake), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Germany's Hocthief AG, itself majority owned by ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. (ACS Group) — for refinancing and working capital purposes. This loan was divided into two tranches: a $950 million AUD tranche with a maturity period of four years, a final maturity date of September 25, 2023, and an interest rate based on a floating rate plus an opening interest margin of 105 basis points (bps) (based on CIMIC's rating of Baa2/BBB by Moody's/S&P); and a $950 million AUD tranche with a maturity period of five years, a final maturity date of September 25, 2024, and an interest rate on a floating rate plus an opening interest margin of 115 bps (based on CIMIC's rating). Per CIMIC's deed of cross guarantee, CIMIC Group Limited issued a guarantee for this loan. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to replace (refinance) an existing tranche in CIMIC's current facility maturing in September 2020 and maturing U.S. dollar debt and for working capital purposes. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Mizuho Bank, National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). BOC and these lenders served as the original mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners. On December 15, 2022, the borrower repaid and cancelled the $950 million AUD four-year tranche. On October 16, 2023, CIMIC Finance entered into a syndicated loan agreement with a group of banks to refinance the $950 million AUD five-year tranche; it was repaid by a $625.0 million AUD tranche maturing on October 4, 2026, a $521.6 million AUD tranche maturing on October 4, 2028, and a $1.0439 billion AUD term debt facility tranche maturing on October 4, 2028 that also had CIMIC Finance (USA) Pty Limited as a borrower. It is unclear whether BOC participated in these loans.
Staff comments
1. AidData has assumed each lender contributed to each tranche. The individual contributions of the six known lenders to this $1.9 billion USD syndicated loan are unknown. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of the BOC by assuming each contributed an equal amount ($316,666,666.667 AUD) to the loan syndicate. 2. While it is unconfirmed that BOC contributed to each tranche, AidData has assumed it has. Therefore, to code the maturity period of this record, AidData has taken the average of the two tranches' maturity periods {[(4 + 5) / 2] = 4.5} and coded it as the maturity period of this record. 3. It is likely there were additional lenders, as the known lenders were only the original mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners (which typically then syndicate loans). This issue merits further investigation.