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Overview

Bank of China contributes to a $1.3 billion AUD syndicated loan to Aurizon Network for refinancing purposes (Linked to Record ID#94842)

Commitment Year•2020Country of Activity•AustraliaDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•AustraliaSector•Transport And StorageFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Pipeline: Commitment

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Jun 1, 2020
Last repayment (originally scheduled)
May 31, 2024

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Commercial Banks

  • Bank of China (BOC)

Cofinancing agencies

State-owned Commercial Banks

  • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

Receiving agencies

Private Sector

  • Aurizon Network Pty Ltd

Loan description

June 2020 $1.3 billion AUD syndicated loan to Aurizon Network for refinancing purposes in Australia

Interest type•UnknownMaturity•4 years

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

In June 2020, a syndicate of lenders — including the Bank of China (BOC) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $1.3 billion AUD syndicated facility (loan) agreement with Aurizon Network Pty Ltd — an Australian rail transport firm, operator and manager of the Central Queensland Coal Network, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aurizon Holdings Limited — for refinancing purposes. Divided into bilateral bank debt facilities, this facility carried maturities of three, four, and five years (June 2023, 2024, and 2025 maturity dates). This syndicated debt facility featured general undertakings, including negative pledge causes over the amount of security Aurizon Holdings Limited could provide in certain circumstances. The proceeds of this syndicated bank debt facility were used to refinance and replace Aurizon Network's existing facilities maturing in July 2021 and October 2022. $525 million AUD of this debt was expected to be used to cover the maturity of one of Aurizon's bonds. The lenders of this refinancing included Aurizon's relationship lenders and two new lenders. Record ID#94841 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#94842 captures ICBC's contribution.

Staff comments

1. The number of lenders to this syndicated loan is unknown; as such, AidData has elected to not apply the equal contributions assumption. 2. Because of the multiple maturity periods in this facility (three years, four years, and five years), AidData has determined there were at least three tranches to this facility. Because AidData has been unable to determine if ICBC and BOC contributed to each respective tranche (as opposed to only a select number), AidData has, for the time being, has estimated the maturity of the Chinese banks' debt (four years) as the average of the three known maturities (three, four, and five).