ICBC contributes $128.33 million AUD to a $770 million AUD syndicated revolving credit facility for the Greenbushes Lithium Mine Expansion and Refinancing Project in 2019 (Linked to Record ID#93995 and #93997)

Project narrative

On July 14, 2017, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of five banks — including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — provided a $370 million AUD syndicated revolver loan to Windfield Holdings Pty Limited — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) holding company for Talison Lithium Pty Ltd and that is jointly owned by China's Tianqi Lithium Corporation (51%) and the United States' Albemarle Corporation (49%) — for the Greenbushes Lithium Mine Expansion Project. This loan carried a maturity period of four years. In addition to ICBC, the following banks contributed: Société Générale S.A. (SocGen), BNP Paribas S.A., ING Bank N.V., and HSBC Bank PLC. Each bank contributed $74.0 million AUD to the syndicated loan. Record ID#93995 captures ICBC's contribution to the $370 million AUD loan. In 2017, Talison Lithium began construction of a large chemical grade lithium processing plant (CGP2) at Greenbushes, the second such facility at Greenbushes. It was completed and opened in 2019, doubling production capacity at the mine to 1.34 million tons per annum. Then, on June 21, 2019, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of six banks — including ICBC and the Bank of China (BOC) — provided a $770 million AUD ($533.53 million USD) revolving credit facility (RCF) to Windfield Holdings for the Greenbushes Lithium Mine Expansion and Refinancing Project. This RCF carried a maturity period of four years and a maturity of June 21, 2023. It was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) the Greenbushes mine. The proceeds of the $770 million AUD RCF were to be used by the borrower to refinance the $370 million AUD loan and fund the majority of costs for further expansion works at Greenbushes. Each lender, including ICBC and BOC, contributed $128.33 million AUD ($88.92 million USD) to the syndicate. In addition to ICBC and BOC, the syndicated consisted of SocGen, HSBC, BNP Paribas, and ING. Record ID#93996 captures ICBC's contribution to the $770 million AUD RCF. Record ID#93997 captures BOC's contribution. The specific expansion works to be financed under this RCF were the construction of a third chemical-grade lithium processing plant and a tailings retreatment facility for utilizing tailings recovered from historic production targeting tantalum. Construction partially began in 2019, with completion expected to take a few years. The Greenbushes plant was expected to produce 48,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide annually at full production, the highest volume in the world.