Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On June 20, 2007, a syndicate of banks — including China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) — entered into a $525 million USD syndicated dual-currency multi-tranche facility agreement with Oxiana Finance Pty Ltd. — an Australia-incorporated wholly owned subsidiary of Australian copper and gold miner and exploration company Oxiana Limited — for the Golden Grove Acquisition Refinancing Project and the Prominent Hill Copper Gold Project. This facility was divided into five tranches: a $220 million USD term loan tranche with a maturity period of five years, a $200 million USD revolver tranche with a maturity period of five years, a $80 million USD revolving credit facility (RCF) tranche with a maturity period of one year, and a $25 million AUD letter of credit tranche with a maturity period of five years. The facility carried an interest rate based on LIBOR plus a margin, which reset within a 6-month maximum at the discretion of Oxiana. The facility was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) first ranking fixed and floating charges over the assets of Prominent Hill, Golden Grove, and Oxiana Finance. The proceeds of this loan were intended to support Oxiana’s development projects and general corporate and working capital purposes; specifically, the proceeds were to be used by the borrower to refinance the acquisition financing used to acquire the Golden Grove Mine in Western Australia and to support the development of the Prominent Hill Copper Gold Project in South Australia. CCB contributed $55 million USD to the $220 million USD, $200 million USD, and $80 million USD tranches. In addition to CCB, the following lenders contributed the respective amounts to the United States dollar-denominated tranches of the syndicated loan: ANZ Investment Bank ($70 million USD), BNP Paribas S.A. ($70 million USD), BOS International (Australia) Ltd ($70 million USD), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ($70 million USD), HVB Australia Pty Ltd ($70 million USD), National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) ($55 million USD), and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS) ($55 million USD). CCB contributed $2.75 million AUD to the $25 million AUD letter of credit tranche. In addition to CCB, the following lenders contributed the respective amounts to the $25 million AUD letter of credit tranche of the syndicated loan: ANZ Investment Bank ($3.5 million AUD), BNP Paribas ($3.5 million AUD), CBA ($3.5 million AUD), HVB Australia ($3.5 million AUD), BOS International ($2.75 million AUD), NAB ($2.75 million AUD), and RBS ($2.75 million AUD). ANZ Investment Bank served as sole mandated lead arranger. The remaining banks joined in syndication; BNP Paribas, CBA, and HVB Australia joined as arrangers. The Prominent Hill copper and gold mine is located 650 kilometers northwest of Adelaide, 130 kilometers southeast of the towner of Coober Pedy, and 130 kilometers northwest of Olympic Dam in South Australia. Oxiana issued approval for the mine in 2006. Prominent Hill began production in February 2009.
Staff comments
1. There are two entities referred to as Oxiana Finance: Oxiana Finance (Holdings) Pty Ltd and Oxiana Finance Pty Ltd. Both were incorporated in Australia in April 2007 as wholly owned subsidiaries of Oxiana Limited. The sources are not explicit on which specific institution was the borrower; AidData has assumed that Oxiana Finance Pty Ltd. was the borrower for the time being. 2. Letter of credits are not considered financial flows; thus CCB's $2.75 million AUD letter of credit is not captured as its own project record. 3. While the individual contributions of the lenders to this syndicated loan are known, the breakdown of their contributions to the three USD-denominated tranches is unknown. For the time being, to record a maturity period, AidData has taken the average of the maturities of the three tranches [(1 + 5 + 5) / 3], or 3.666 years and has coded it as the maturity period of this record.