Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On April 1, 2008, a syndicate of banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) entered into a $270 million USD syndicated loan agreement with Calipso Investment Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-incorporated special purpose vehicle of Indonesian coal company PT Bumi Resources, to finance its acquisition of Australian zinc and lead explorer Herald Resources Ltd. The maturity was two years and the interest rate was floating with 250 base points. The facility was up-sized on June 24, 2008. ICBC contributed $35 million USD to the loan syndicate. Credit Suisse, Erste Bank, ICICI Bank, MUFG Bank, Sinopac Financial Holdings, Société Générale S.A., WestLB, Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB), Bank of India, and Bank of Taiwan were co-financiers on the loan. Herald Resources was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange also owned a concession to mine zinc and lead in the Dairi region of Indonesia. In December 2007, Bumi Resources offered $2.95 AUD to acquire all the issued shares of Herald. Herald's board of directors called it hostile and unsolicited. Then, in January 2008, Herald's board endorsed the bid, but a rival bid from Indonesia's Antam and China's Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet offered $2.50 AUD per share, leading to a bidding war. On July 2, 2008, Bumi increased its offer to $2.85 AUD per share and on July 17, 2008 Bumi acquired 51.34% of shares for $295 million AUD