Bank of China contributes $75 million AUD to a $700 million AUD syndicated bridge loan to facilitate OMERS' acquisition of a 19.99% ownership stake in TransGrid

Project narrative

On July 17, 2020, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of six banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $700 million AUD ($488.98 million USD) syndicated bridge facility (loan) agreement with McGavin Infrastructure Pty Ltd — an Australia-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) wholly owned by Canadian public pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) — in order to facilitate its $2.400 billion AUD ($1,676,490,000 USD) acquisition of a 19.99% ownership stake in Australian electricity transmission network operator TransGrid from shareholder and Kuwait Investment Authority investment vehicle Wren House Infrastructure Management. The bridge facility carried a maturity period of three years and a final maturity date of July 17, 2023. BOC contributed $75.00 million AUD ($52.39 million USD) to the syndicated bridge facility. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed the following values to the facility: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) ($225.00 million AUD; $157.17 million USD), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ($225.00 million AUD), Mizuho Bank ($75.00 million AUD), Natixis ($50.00 million AUD; $34.93 million USD), and Société Générale S.A. (SocGen) ($50.00 million AUD). In addition to the $700 million AUD in debt, OMERS contributed $1.700 billion AUD ($1,187,520,000 USD) in equity for the acquisition. The 19.99% stake constituted the entirety of Wren House's interest in TransGrid. Following the completion of the acquisition on July 17, 2020, TransGrid officially welcomed OMERS to its ownership group on July 19, 2020.