Bank of China contributes $500 million USD to a $1.4 billion USD syndicated Term Loan B to Carlyle Group for its acquisition of Atotech B.V.

Project narrative

In 2017, a syndicate of at least eight banks — including the Bank of China (BOC), Barclays Bank Plc, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., and Citigroup — entered into a $1.4 billion USD syndicated Term Loan B loan agreement with The Carlyle Group, Inc. — an American multinational private equity and asset management firm publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market — to finance its acquisition of Atotech B.V. — a Netherlands-incorporated chemicals company headquartered in Berlin, Germany — from French multinational integrated energy and petroleum supermajor Total SE. BOC issued $500 million USD to the loan syndicate as the only Chinese joint lead bank and bookrunner, with seven other banks contributing. In early October 2016, Carlyle Group signed an agreement to acquire Atotech B.V., Total's specialty chemicals affiliate, from Total SE for a consideration of $3.2 billion USD. Carlyle Group's funds Carlyle Europe Partners IV and Carlyle Partners VI provided equity for the transaction. Atotech is the world's leading multinational supplier of general metal plating (GMF) technology and services, printed circuit board (PCB) chemicals and equipment. Its two business segments are electronics (printed circuit boards, semiconductors) and general metal finishing (for end-markets such as automobile, construction, furniture etc). It is active in over 40 countries and has over 4,000 globally, mainly in China and in Germany, with 18 production sites (6 in Europe, 8 in Asia, and 4 in America) and 18 TechCenters (5 in Europe, 8 in Asia, and 5 in America). In 2015, its sales were €1 billion EUR. The acquisition was completed on January 31, 2017. In 2021, Carlyle listed Atotech on the New York Stock Exchange. In august 202, MKS Instruments Inc. Acquired Atotech.