Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On 16 March 2021, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of banks — including Bank of China — entered into a €1 billion EUR syndicated loan agreement with Energetický a průmyslový holding, a.s. (“EPH”) — a Czech-based energy and infrastructure conglomerate operating across Europe in power generation, gas transmission, and distribution. The facilities included both a term loan and a revolving credit facility, with a maturity of three years. The interest rate was EURIBOR plus an applicable margin. The proceeds were used by the borrower to refinance certain other financial indebtedness of the EPH group and for general corporate purposes. Bank of China (CEE) Ltd. contributed to this loan (Record ID#109721), the following lenders also participated: COMMERZBANK (Prague branch), Credit Suisse AG, ING Bank N.V. (Prague branch), Komerční banka, SMBC Bank EU AG, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Citibank Europe plc. In June 2023, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 8 banks — including Bank of China — entered into a €3.845 billion EUR syndicated loan agreement with Energetický a průmyslový holding, a.s. (“EPH”) — a Czech-based energy and infrastructure conglomerate operating across Europe in power generation, gas transmission, and distribution. The financing package consisted of three- and five-year term loans, as well as two-, three-, and five-year revolving credit facilities. The interest rate was EURIBOR plus an applicable margin. The proceeds were used by the borrower to refinance the 2021 facility. While Bank of China contributed to this loan (Record ID#109722), the following lenders also participated: ING and SMBC (as coordinators and bookrunners), Erste Group (mandated lead arranger), and Credit Suisse, HSBC, Raiffeisen Bank, and VUB (as participants).
Staff comments
1. The loan contract is unavailable. 2. EP Infrastructure, a.s. (EPIF) is a Czech-based infrastructure holding company headquartered in Prague. It operates across Central Europe and is involved in gas transmission, electricity distribution, and heat infrastructure. EPIF is part of the EPH Group, a major European energy and infrastructure group. 3. AidData is unable to estimate the interest rate for this loan because the margin to the EURIBOR-based loan is unavailable. 4. The individual contributions of the lenders to this €3.845 billion EUR syndicated loan are not disclosed, and it is unclear if Bank of China contributed to all tranches. For the time being, AidData has estimated Bank of China’s contribution by assuming equal division among the 8 identified participating institutions — approximately €480.625 million EUR. 5. AidData estimates the average maturity for this loan by taking the average maturity of the different tranches (3 year and 5 year maturities for the term loan, and 2, 3 and 5 year maturities for the revolving credit facility).