Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In mid-April 2003, a syndicate of 22 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a €500 million EUR syndicated facility agreement with Bord Gáis Éireann (BGE) — an Irish state-owned utility that owns and operates Ireland’s integrated gas network wholly owned by the Government of Ireland — for unspecified purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of five years. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Allied Irish Banks p.l.c. (AIB), Bank of Ireland, BNP Paribas S.A., Citigroup, Barclays Bank Plc, Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Madrid (Caja Madrid), Danske Bank A/S, ING Group N.V., IIB Bank Ireland, National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), Norinchukin Bank, Ulster Bank Ireland, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), WestLB AG, Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB), ABN Amro Bank NV, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (BMPS), Banca Populaire di Lodi, Commerzbank AG, Parfibank, and Sanpaolo IMI Bank Ireland. AIB, Bank of Ireland, BNP Paribas, and Citigroup served as mandated lead arrangers committing €35 million EUR. BOC, Barclays, Caja Madrid, Danske, ING, IIB Bank Ireland, NAB, Norinchukin Bank, Ulster Bank Ireland, Sumitomo Corporation, WestLB, and BayernLB served as arrangers committing €23 million EUR. ABN AMRO, BMPS, Banca Populaire di Lodi, Commerzbank AG, Parfibank, and Sanpaolo IMI Bank Ireland served as co-arrangers committing €14 million EUR. Bord Gáis mandated the four mandated lead arrangers in February 2003. It was launched on March 13, 2003, and then allocations due in mid-April 2003. The loan was oversubscribed in syndication, although commitments were scaled back