Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In late December 2004, a syndicate of 34 banks — including the Macau Branch of the Bank of China (BOC) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited (ICBC (Asia)) — entered into a $4.0 billion USD unsecured multi-currency syndicated facility (loan) agreement with Westfield Group, an Australian shopping center company, for the Westfield Group 2004 Refinancing Project. This facility consisted of a three year tranche (approximately one-third of the loan's value, or ~$1,333,333,333 USD) with an interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin of 37.5 basis points (bps) and a five tranche (approximately two-thirds of the loan's value, or ~$2,666,666,666 USD) with an interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin of 45 bps. The loan was available for drawing in the United States and Australia. The proceeds of this facility were to be used by the borrower to refinance existing debt and for its general corporate purposes. The facility was launched in syndication at $2.5 billion USD and was reportedly the largest ever syndication in the Australian market. The Macau Branch of BOC contributed $25 million USD as a manager and ICBC (Asia) contributed $25 million USD as a manager. Record ID#95895 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#95896 captures ICBC (Asia)'s contribution. In addition to these two Chinese state-owned banks, the following lenders contributed the respective amounts and had the respective roles in the loan syndicate: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) ($225 million USD as mandated lead arranger and bookrunner), Barclays Bank PLC ($225 million USD as mandated lead arranger and bookrunner), Citibank, N.A. ($225 million USD as mandated lead arranger and bookrunner), National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) ($225 million USD as mandated lead arranger and bookrunner), BNP Paribas S.A. ($225 million USD as mandated lead arranger), ABN AMRO Bank NV ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Credit Suisse First Boston ($150 as mandated lead arranger), Deutsche Bank AG ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Dresdner Bank AG ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Lloyds TSB Bank plc ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Merrill Lynch ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS) ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Wachovia Bank National Association ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Westpac Banking Corporation ($150 million USD as mandated lead arranger), Bank of America N.A. ($100 million USD as co arranger), Bank of Nova Scotia Asia (BNS Asia Limited) ($100 million USD as co-arranger), Bayerische Landesbank ($100 million USD as co-arranger), HSBC Bank Australia ($100 million USD as co-arranger), Morgan Stanley Bank ($100 million USD as co-arranger), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTMU) ($75 million USD as lead manager), Société Générale S.A. (SocGen) ($75 million USD as lead manager), WestLB AG ($75 million USD as lead manager), Calyon Australia ($50 million USD as senior manager), Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank AG ($50 million USD as senior manager), Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg (LBBW) ($50 million USD as senior manager), Mizuho Corporate Bank (MHCB) ($50 million USD as senior manager), the Norinchukin Bank ($50 million USD as senior manager), Chang Hwa Commercial Bank ($25 million USD as manager), and International and Commercial Bank of China (a unit of Mega Holdings) ($25 million USD as manager). Then, between June 23 and 29, 2007, a syndicate of 35 banks — including BOC Macau and Nanyang Commercial Bank (NCB) — entered into a $4.685 billion USD syndicated multi-tranche facility (loan) agreement with Westfield Group, an Australian shopping center company. The facility consisted of a $1.65 billion USD three-year revolving credit facility maturing in 2011, a $2.475 billion USD revolver maturing in 2013, and a $560 million USD term loan maturity in 2013. The proceeds of this facility were to be used by the borrower to refinance the $4.0 billion USD existing deal signed in December 2004; this loan was oversubscribed from its initial $4 billion USD target. BOC committed $30 million USD and NCB committed $80 million USD to the loan syndicate. Record ID#94991 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#94992 captures NCB's contribution.
Staff comments
1. While the contributions of BOC and ICBC (Asia) are both known, information on whether they contributed to each tranche, and the breakdown of their contributions to those tranches, is unknown. For the time being, AidData has assumed that they contributed equally to the tranches. AidData has coded the average of the maturities of the tranches [(3 + 5) / 2 = 4], as the maturity period for this record. AidData has coded the average of the reference rates [(0.375 + 0.45) / 2 = 0.4125%] as the reference rate.