Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On August 4, 2022, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 21 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC), China Everbright Bank, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $1.600 billion AUD ($1.1356 billion USD) syndicated loan agreement with MBC BidCo Pty Ltd — an Australia-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) jointly owned by BIF IV One Holdings L.P., a special purpose limited partnership managed by Brookfield Asset Management (50% equity stake), Morrison & Co Infrastructure Partnership (30% equity stake), and Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) (20% equity stake) — to support its acquisition of 100% of the issued shares of Australian telecommunications and broadband company Uniti Group Limited. This loan was divided into three tranches: a $300.00 million AUD ($208.79 million USD) term loan tranche with a maturity period of three years and a final maturity date of August 4, 2025; a $1.050 billion AUD ($730.77 million USD) term loan tranche with a maturity period of five years; and a $250.00 million AUD ($173.99 million USD) term loan tranche with a maturity period of three years. Each lender contributed $14.29 million AUD ($9.94 million USD) to the $300 million AUD term loan tranche. Record ID#104885 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#104886 captures China Everbright Bank's contribution. Record ID#104887 captures ICBC's contribution. Each lender contributed $50.00 million AUD ($34.80 million USD) to the $1.05 billion AUD term loan tranche. Record ID#104888 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#104889 captures China Everbright Bank's contribution. Record ID#104890 captures ICBC's contribution. Each lender contributed $11.90 million AUD ($8.29 million USD) to the $250 million AUD term loan tranche. Record ID#104891 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#104892 captures China Everbright Bank's contribution. Record ID#104893 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to the three Chinese state-owned banks, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Export Development Canada (EDC), Bank of Taiwan, Barclays Bank Plc, BNP Paribas Fortis S.A./N.V., Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Crédit Agricole Group, E.Sun Commercial Bank, HSBC, Hua Nan Commercial Bank (HNCB), KEB Hana Bank, Korea Development Bank (KDB), Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Ltd., Natixis, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Taiwan Business Bank (TBB), and Westpac Banking Corporation. Barclays, CBA, HSBC, Mizuho, MUFG, Natixis, and Westpac served as mandated lead arrangers, underwriters, and bookrunners, and the other lenders served as participants. Syndication was closed in September 2022. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower, alongside cash equity of $1.010 billion AUD ($702.93 million USD) from Brookfield, $606.00 million AUD ($421.76 million USD) from Morrison & Co, and $404.00 million AUD ($281.17 million USD from CSC, to finance the $3.620 billion AUD ($2.51943 billion USD) acquisition of 100% of the shares of Uniti Group Limited, an Australian Securities Exchange-listed owner of telecom services and the second largest fiber-to-the-premise provider in Australia, at $5 AUD per Uniti share. On March 16, 2022, Morrison & Co locked in a two-week exclusivity agreement with Uniti Group to acquire the shares of Uniti at $4.50 AUD per share. Then, due to a rival bid, Morrison & Co. brought on Brookfield and then on March 28, 2022, increased its offer to match the rival bid. On April 14, 2022, Uniti approved the joint venture's bid. The acquisition was completed on August 4, 2022 via a scheme of arrangement Uniti was delisted from ASX and was run as a private company by the joint venture owners, with Morrison & Co and CSC as the managers.