Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On June 22, 2005, a syndicate of 22 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — signed a €2.200 billion EUR syndicated multicurrency loan facility agreement with Lagardère S.C.A. — a France-incorporated holding company for Lagardère S.A., a French publishing and news company — for refinancing and general corporate purposes. This facility carried a maturity period of five years with two one-year extension options, a final maturity date in 2010, and an interest rate based on one-month EURIBOR plus a margin dependent on a leverage grid of the borrower's net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), with a leverage of 1.5 times or less having a margin of 20 basis points (bps), a leverage of 1.5 to 2.5 times having a margin of 22.5 bps. and 2.5 times or greater having a margin of 27.5 bps. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower for its general corporate purposes and to replace (refinance) two credit lines established in June 2001 (€1.35 billion EUR) and July 2003 (€700 million EUR). Record ID#105489 captures BOC's contribution. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA), BNP Paribas S.A., Calyon, Citigroup, HSBC Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Natexis Banques Populaires, Société Générale Corporate & Investment Bank (SGCIB), Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) (CM-CIC), ING Group N.V., Mediobanca, Mizuho Bank, ABN AMRO Bank NV, Barclays Bank Plc, Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB), Crédit agricole d'Île-de-France, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, IXIS Corporate & Investment Bank (IXIS CIB), HypoVereinsbank (HVB), and Morgan Stanley. BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citigroup, and HSBC Bank served as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners. BBVA, JPMorgan, Natexis Banques Populaires, and SGCIB served as mandated lead arrangers. CM-CIC, ING, Mediobanca, and Mizuho served as arrangers. BOC, ABN AMRO, Barcalys, BayernLB, Crédit agricole d'Île-de-France, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, IXIS CIB, HVB, and Morgan Stanley. In syndication, lenders were offered tickets of €125 million EUR for a fee of 10 bps and €50 million EUR for a free of 7 bps. As of December 31, 2005, €250 million EUR was drawn under the facility. In 2006, the borrower repaid the €250 million EUR drawn. As of December 31, 2006, there was no outstanding balance. In 2007, the borrower drew down on the loan to finance the acquisition of Sportfive, a German based international sports marketing agency. As of December 31, 2007, €600 million EUR was drawn under the facility. In or by 2008, the lending syndicate — still including BOC — entered into an amendment agreement with the borrower; in the amendment agreement, the lenders extended the maturity period of the €2.2 billion EUR loan by one year — for a new maturity period of six years — and set the final maturity date to 2011. Record ID#105491 captures BOC's contribution to this debt rescheduling. In 2008, the borrower drew down €1.080 billion EUR under the facility. As of December 31, 2008, €1.680 billion EUR was drawn under the facility. In or by 2009, the lending syndicate — still including BOC — entered into an another amendment agreement with the borrower; in the amendment agreement, the lenders extended the maturity period of the €2.2 billion EUR loan by one year — for a new maturity period of seven years — and set the final maturity date to 2012. Record ID#105492 captures BOC's contribution to this debt rescheduling. As of December 31, 2009, €1.680 billion EUR was drawn under the facility. As of December 31, 2010, €612,289,843 EUR was drawn under the facility. On January 26, 2011, a syndicate of 14 banks signed a €1,645,000,000 EUR syndicated loan agreement with Lagardère S.C.A. to refinance the €2.2 billion EUR syndicated loan.