Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On January 8, 2021, a syndicate of 10 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $1.87 billion USD syndicated term loan loan agreement with easyJet Airline Company Limited — an England and Wales-incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of EasyJet plc, an England and Wales-incorporated British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport listed on the London Stock Exchange — for refinancing purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of five years and an interest rate based on a floating rate. UK Export Finance (UKEF) provided a partial guarantee under its Export Development Guarantee (EDG) scheme for this facility. EasyJet plc also provided a guarantee for this facility. This loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) on aircraft upon drawing, namely 18 Airbus A320neo and 32 A320 aircraft. Wilmington Trust served as security agent. Each of the 10 lenders contributed 10% of the facility ($187,000,000 USD). Record ID#106458 captures BOC's contribution. On January 21, 2021, the borrower drew down $1.05 billion USD (£800 million GBP) from this facility, utilizing the proceeds to repay and cancel a $500 million USD revolving credit facility and to repay term loans of $245 million USD and £200 million GBP. In April 2022, the borrower repaid $100 million USD of this facility, reducing the overall facility size from $1.87 billion USD to $1.77 billion USD. On June 16, 2023, a syndicate of 11 banks — including BOC — entered into a $1.75 billion USD syndicated sustainability-linked term loan facility agreement with easyJet Airline Company Limited for refinancing purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of five years and a final maturity date in 2028 and an interest rate based on a floating rate plus a margin. 80% of the facility ($1.4 billion USD) received a guarantee from UKEF under its EDG scheme. This loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) on aircraft upon drawing, namely 18 Airbus A320neo and 32 A320 aircraft. Wilmington Trust served as security agent. As a sustainability-linked loan (SLL), this facility featured a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of a reduction in carbon emission intensity in line with EasyJet’s Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)-validated target, with a margin adjustment mechanism (upward or downward) conditional to the achievement of specific milestones related to it. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to replace (refinance) the $1.77 billion USD syndicated facility entered into in January 2021, which was repaid and terminated upon entry of the June 2023 facility. Record ID#106457 captures BOC's contribution. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: BNP Paribas S.A., Citibank N.A., Banco Santander, S.A., Lloyds TSB, Barclays Bank Plc, Bank of America, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CACIB), MUFG Bank, Ltd., Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking (SGCIB), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). BNP Paribas served as sustainability coordinator. BNP Paribas, Citibank, Santander, and Lloyds served as coordinators and bookrunners. BOC, Barclays, Bank of America, CACIB, MUFG, SocGen, and SMBC served as mandated lead arrangers. As of September 30, 2023, this facility was undrawn.
Staff comments
1. The individual contributions of the 11 lenders to this $1.75 billion USD syndicated facility are unknown. Therefore, to estimate BOC's contribution, AidData has assumed that each lender contributed to equally ($159,090,909.091 USD) to the loan syndicate.