Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
Prior to or around April 30, 2004, a syndicate of 31 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $1.000 billion USD syndicated revolving credit facility (RCF) agreement with SABMiller plc — an England and Wales-incorporated Anglo-South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England and listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange — and SABMiller Finance B.V. — an Netherlands-incorporated holding and finance company and wholly-owned subsidiary of SABMiller — for refinancing purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of five years and an interest rate based on LIBOR plus a margin of 32.5 basis points (bps). SABMiller plc issued a guarantee for this loan. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to refinance and replace a $720 million USD loan from April 2000. BOC committed $15 million USD as a co-arranger. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed the respective amounts in these roles: ABN AMRO Bank NV ($53.5 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Bank of America ($53.5 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Crédit Agricole Indosuez ($53.5 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein ($53.5 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) ($53.5 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Société Générale S.A. (SocGen) ($53.5 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) ($31 million USD as arranger), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA) ($31 million USD as arranger), Bank Austria-Creditanstalt (BA-CA) ($31 million USD as arranger), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) ($31 million USD as arranger), Barclays Capital ($31 million USD as arranger), Citigroup ($31 million USD as arranger), Fortis Bank ($31 million USD as arranger), HSBC Bank ($31 million USD as arranger), ING Group N.V. ($31 million USD as arranger), JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ($31 million USD as arranger), Lehman Brothers Inc. ($31 million USD as arranger), Lloyds TSB Bank PLC ($31 million USD as arranger), Mizuho Bank ($31 million USD as arranger), Morgan Stanley ($31 million USD as arranger), Natexis Banques Populaires ($31 million USD as arranger), National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) ($31 million USD as arranger), Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A. (Rabobank) ($31 million USD as arranger), Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) ($31 million USD as arranger), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) ($31 million USD as arranger), Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated ($15 million USD as co-arranger), Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich A.G. (RZB) ($15 million USD as co-arranger), Sanpaolo IMI S.p.A. ($15 million USD as co-arranger), Standard Chartered Bank PLC ($15 million USD as co-arranger), and UniCredit S.p.A. ($15 million USD as co-arranger). The loan was oversubscribed during syndication with $1.9 billion USD of commitments and was increased from its $750 million USD target to $1 billion USD. As of March 31, 2005, $168 million USD was drawn down under the RCF. As of March 31, 2006, there was no outstanding balance under the RCF and it was apparently cancelled.