Bank of China contributes to a €400 million EUR syndicated loan to ALBA Group for refinancing purposes

Project narrative

On October 26, 2012, a syndicate of six banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a €400 million EUR ($519.04 million USD) syndicated senior secured loan agreement with ALBA Group plc & Co. KG. — a Germany-incorporated management company headquartered in Berlin owned by Germany brothers Axel and Eric Schweitzer that was the controlling shareholder (85.324% stake) in ALBA SE, a European Union-incorporated publicly traded recycling and waste disposal company specializing in steel and metals recycling and services and providing environmental services provider to steel works, smelters, and foundries headquartered in Cologne — for refinancing purposes. The loan carried a maturity period of five years and a final maturity date of October 30, 2017 and an interest rate based on EURIBOR plus a margin. It was divided into two €200 million EUR ($259.52 million USD) tranches, one a term loan and the other a revolving credit facility (RCF). ALBA SE and its subsidiaries issued a joint and several liability for the loan and the loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) a collective land charge without mortgage deed worth €120.00 million EUR including various plots of land charged to security agent Unicredit Luxemburg S.A and by trade receivables valued at €43.85 million EUR and €108.06 million EUR. The proceeds were used to refinance Alba's existing €685 million EUR facility signed in December 2010 that was due to mature in December 2013, of which €287 million EUR was still outstanding as of March 31, 2012, and would otherwise be used for general corporate purposes and business activities of ALBA SE, via a cash pooling agreement between Alba Group and ALBA SE. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Commerzbank AG, Deutsche Bank AG, UniCredit Bank AG, HSH Nordbank AG, IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, SEB AG, DZ Bank AG, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba), Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB).Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, and UniCredit Bank served as bookrunners and coordinators. BOC, HSH Nordbank, IKB Deutsche, and SEG joined as mandated lead arrangers. DZ Bank joined as lead arranger. Helaba joined as arranger. IBB and KSK Köln joined as co-arrangers. Syndication closed oversubscribed and lenders' commitments were scaled back in allocation.