Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On January 22, 2019, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 24 banks — including ICBC and Bank of China — entered into a $1 billion USD revolving credit agreement with Kellogg Company, a multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan. The loan's maturity was 364 days, and the interest rate was based on LIBOR plus an applicable margin. The use of proceeds was for general corporate purposes. While ICBC (Record ID#105562) and Bank of China (Record ID#105561) contributed to this loan, the following lenders also participated: JPMorgan Chase Bank, Barclays Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Coöperatieve Rabobank, Wells Fargo Bank, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Bank, ING Bank, Mizuho Bank, Morgan Stanley Bank, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, The Northern Trust Company, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, U.S. Bank, Bank of Montreal, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, GreenStone Farm Credit Services, Société Générale, and ICICI Bank Limited. On January 28, 2020, the lender and the same set of borrowers renewed the syndicated revolving credit and replaced the old agreement. ICBC’s contributed is recorded in Record ID#105563 and BOC’s contribution is recorded in Record ID#105564. In January 2021, the lender and borrowers renewed the syndicated agreement. No Chinese bank was involved in this agreement. On December 21, 2021, the borrower and a syndicate of 23 banks — including ICBC and BOC — entered into a $1 billion revolving credit agreement. The loan's maturity was 364 days, and the interest rate was based on SOFR plus an applicable margin. While Bank of China (Record ID#105565) and ICBC (Record ID#105566) contributed to this loan, the following lenders also participated: JPMorgan Chase Bank, Barclays Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Coöperatieve Rabobank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, HSBC Bank, ING Bank, Mizuho Bank, Morgan Stanley Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Northern Trust Company, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, U.S. Bank, Société Générale, The Bank of Nova Scotia, UniCredit Bank AG, AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, GreenStone Farm Credit Services, and ICICI Bank. On December 20, 2022, the borrower and a syndicate of 23 banks — including BOC — entered into a $1 billion revolving credit agreement. The loan's maturity was 364 days, and the interest rate was based on SOFR plus an applicable margin. While Bank of China (Record ID#105567) contributed to this loan, the following lenders also participated: JPMorgan Chase Bank, Barclays Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Coöperatieve Rabobank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, HSBC Bank, ING Bank, Mizuho Bank, Morgan Stanley Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Northern Trust Company, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, U.S. Bank, Société Générale, The Bank of Nova Scotia, UniCredit Bank AG, AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, GreenStone Farm Credit Services, and ICICI Bank. On December 19, 2023, the borrower and the same set of 23 banks — including BOC — entered into a $1 billion revolving credit agreement. The loan's maturity was 364 days, and the interest rate was based on SOFR plus an applicable margin. BOC’s contribution is recorded in Record ID#105568.
Staff comments
1. Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Kellogg's was split into two companies on October 2, 2023, with WK Kellogg Co owning the North American cereal division, and the existing company being rebranded to "Kellanova", owning snack brands such as Pop-Tarts and Pringles alongside the international cereal division. 2. AidData estimates the interest rate by adding the 6-month average LIBOR rate for January 2019 and an applicable margin based on the credit rating. According to SEC filings, Kellogg’s credit rating in January 2019 was BBB-, which qualifies the company for Category 4 for applicable margin (1.25%). Hence, the aggregate interest is LIBOR (2.397%) plus 1.25% equal to 3.647%. 3. The individual contributions of the banks involved in this $1 billion syndicated revolving loan were not disclosed. Therefore, AidData assumes equal contributions among all lenders for BOC and ICBC (1,000,000,000/24$ = $41,666,666.67 USD) 4. The 2019 loan agreement can be accessed at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8ux4vko19xmi9dd65t1eu/EX-4.1.pdf?rlkey=0nh0od9fk44yipbiojwpfzkzv&st=ir9021o0&dl=0