Agricultural Bank of China contributes $154,687,500 to $2.475 billion revolving credit facility for Hutchison 3GUK Limited (linked to Record ID#ID #99265, #99264)

Project narrative

In 2001, a syndicate of banks signed a $2.475 billion revolving credit facility for Hutchison 3GUK Limited via mandated lead arrangers JP Morgan, HSBC, and WestLB. Just two banks joined in retail after the deal ran out of steam in the first round of syndication; however, bankers close to the deal claim that the underwriters neared their projected final takes thanks to a large chunk of vendor financing, thought to amount to £777m, from Nokia and Siemens-NEC. Joining as lead arrangers were ABN Amro, Citibank/SSSB, Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland. Arrangers are Agricultural Bank of China, Banca Commerciale Italia (Intesa Sanpaolo), China Construction Bank, and Standard Chartered. Lead managers are Crédit Agricole Indosuez, Goldman Sachs and Mizuho. Sumitomo and Citic Ka Wah also joined the facility in general syndication. The three year deal is priced at a margin of 175bp (1.75% ) over Libor for the first year, rising to 200bp (2%) for years two and three. The margin steps up to 225bp if the facility is extended an additional year. A commitment fee of 62.5bp is payable on the undrawn amount of the facility, and a 10bp extension fee will be paid if the facility is extended. Linked Record ID#99264 and #99265 capture Citic Ka Wah and CCB's contributions, respectively.