Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On April 24, 2017, financial close was announced on a deal in which a syndicate of 15 banks — including the New York Branch of the Bank of China (BOC) and the New York Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $2.1 billion USD syndicated revolving credit facility (RCF) agreement with Freepoint Commodities LLC — a Delaware-incorporated global physical commodities merchant headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut — for working capital and refinancing purposes. This RCF was divided into two tranches: a $1.445 billion USD committed tranche with a maturity period of three years and a final maturity date in April 2020; and a $655 million USD uncommitted tranche with a maturity period of one year. This RCF carried a $300 million USD accordion feature. This RCF was an amendment-and-extension of an existing RCF. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to refinance its existing RCF and for working capital purposes, namely the financing the physical merchant activities of the borrower's global commodities businesses. Record ID#105246 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#105247 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to BOC and ICBC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: BNP Paribas Securities Corp. (BNPPSC), The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFG, Ltd. (BTMU), the New York Branch of Natixis, ING Bank N.V., Société Générale S.A. (SocGen), the New York Branch of Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., ABN AMRO Capital USA LLC, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CACIB), Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd., the New York Branch of Deutsche Bank AG, UBS Switzerland AG, and Standard Chartered Bank. BNPPSC, BTMU, and Natixis NY Branch served as Joint Lead Arrangers. BNPPSC and MUFG also served as Joint Bookrunners, and BNPPSC served as the Administrative Agent. ING Bank, Natixis NY Branch, SocGen, and Rabobank NY Branch served as Co-Syndication and Co-Documentation Agents. Continuing participating lenders included: ABN AMRO Capital USA, CBA, CACIB, Credit Suisse (Switzerland), Deutsche Bank NY Branch, and UBS Switzerland. BOC NY Branch, ICBC NY Branch, and Standard Chartered Bank were new participating lenders. Then, on May 10, 2018, financial close was announced on a deal in which a syndicate of 16 banks — including BOC NY Branch and ICBC NY Branch — entered into a $2.1 billion USD syndicated RCF agreement with Freepoint Commodities LLC for working capital and refinancing purposes. This RCF was divided into two tranches: a $1.445 billion USD committed tranche with a maturity period of three years; and a $655 million USD uncommitted tranche with a maturity period of one year. This RCF carried a $300 million USD accordion feature. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to refinance its existing 2017 RCF and for working capital purposes, namely the financing the physical merchant activities of the borrower's global commodities businesses. Record ID#105249 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#105250 captures ICBC's contribution.
Staff comments
1. Freepoint Commodities LLC is based in Stamford, Connecticut with over 575 employees worldwide and founded in 2011. Freepoint Commodities LLC is a global commodities merchant of physical commodities providing customers with physical supply and logistics chain management and services, together with eco-friendly products and solutions. Freepoint trades oil and gas globally, including both physical and derivative oil products. 2. The individual contributions of the 15 lenders to this $2.1 billion USD syndicated revolving credit facility are unknown. AidData has assumed each lender contributed to each tranche, and AidData does not consider uncommitted loans to be flows. Therefore, for the time being, to estimate the contributions of BOC and ICBC to the $1.445 billion USD committed tranche, AidData has assumed each lender contributed equally ($96,333,333.3333 USD) to the tranche.