Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On November 21, 2005, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 14 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a £216.17 million GBP ($371.41 million USD) syndicated revolving loan facility agreement with the Airline Group Limited — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) jointly owned by seven British airliners Airtours International Airways Limited, Britannia Airways Limited, British Airways plc, British Midland Airways Limited, easyjet Airline Company Limited, Monarch Airlines Limited, and Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited — for the NATS Privatization 2005 Refinancing Project. This loan carried a maturity period of five years, a final maturity date of November 21, 2010, and an interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin of 39 basis points (bps). The proceeds were to be used by the borrower for the refinancing of a $346 million USD loan facility used by the borrower to acquire a 41.94% stake in the UK's National Air Traffic Services (NATS). Each lender, including BOC, contributed £15.44 million GBP ($26.53 million USD). In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Barclays Bank Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Commerzbank AG, ING Group N.V., Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg (LBBW), the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU), Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), HSH Nordbank AG, Lloyds Bank, Mizuho Financial Group, Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB), BNP Paribas Fortis S.A./N.V., and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).