Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On April 29, 2015, a syndicate of 13 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a €1.1 billion EUR ($1.27 billion USD) syndicated revolving credit facility (RCF) agreement with Air France-KLM S.A. — a France-incorporated Franco-Dutch airline holding company with its headquarters in the rue du Cirque, Paris — and Air France S.A. — the flag carrier airline of France and France-incorporated wholly-subsidiary of Air France-KLM S.A. — for refinancing purposes. This RCF was divided into two tranches of €550 million EUR each: a tranche with a maturity period of three years and a final maturity date in April 2018 and a tranche with a maturity period of five years. The RCF was subject to financial covenants calculated based on the holding company's consolidated financial accounts. The proceeds were to be used to refinance a €1.06 billion EUR Air France credit facility maturing in April 2016 (ICBC contributed €25 million EUR to that facility, as captured by Record ID#101222). Record ID#104902 captures BOC's contribution. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: BNP Paribas S.A., Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) (CM-CIC), Crédit Agricole Group, Deutsche Bank, HSBC France S.A., Natixis, Société Générale S.A. (SocGen), Citibank, N.A., Banco Santander, S.A., Commerzbank AG, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and Morgan Stanley. Natixis served as facility agent. Then, on November 6, 2017, a syndicate of 18 banks — including BOC — entered into a €1.1 billion EUR syndicated RCF with Air France-KLM S.A. and Air France S.A. for refinancing purposes. This RCF was divided into two tranches of €550 million EUR each: a tranche with a maturity period of three years with two one-year extensions and a final maturity date of November 7, 2020 and a tranche with a maturity period of five years and a final maturity date of November 7, 2022. This RCF was an early "renewal" (refinancing) of the previous April 2015 €1.1 billion EUR syndicated RCF. Record ID#104903 captures BOC's contribution. On March 13, 2020, Air France-KLM drew down the entire €1.1 billion EUR RCF to support its finances amidst the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, on May 7, 2020, after receiving a financial support package from the French State, Air France-KLM repaid the entire RCF and then terminated the facility.
Staff comments
1. Air France-KLM S.A. is a France-incorporated airline holding company with its headquarters in the rue du Cirque, Paris. It is the parent of Air France S.A., KLM N.V., and Transavia Airlines B.V.; it was born out of a 2004 merger between Air France and KLM. The Government of France and the Government of the Netherlands are important shareholders, albeit not majority shareholders. 2. The individual contributions of the 13 lenders to this €1.1 billion EUR syndicated revolving credit facility are unknown. AidData has assumed each lender contributed to each tranche. Therefore, to estimate the contribution of BOC, AidData has assumed each lender contributed equally (€84,615,384.6154 EUR) to the loan syndicate. 3. It is unclear whether BOC contributed to each tranche. For the time being, AidData has taken the average maturity period of the two tranches {[(3 + 5) / 2 ] = 4 years} and coded it as the maturity period of this record.