Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In August 2013, a syndicate of nine banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $247 million AUD ($226.6 million USD) senior secured syndicated project finance loan agreement with QS MAPS Holdings No. 4 Pty Ltd. — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) wholly owned by QIC Global Infrastructure (QIC GI), an arm of Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), a Queensland Government-owned investment company — for the Epic Energy South Australia Acquisition Project. This syndicated loan was divided into three tranches: a $135 million AUD five-year amortizer tranche with an interest rate of BBSW plus a margin of 200 basis points (bps), a $110 million AUD three-year bullet tranche with an interest rate of BBSW plus a margin of 180 bps, and a $2 million AUD one-year facility with an interest rate of an unspecified floating rate plus a margin of 75 bps for working capital requirements. BOC contributed between $17.5 million AUD and $22.5 million AUD to the loan syndicate. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed the respective amounts to the loan syndicate: the Sydney Branch of Citibank N.A., the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi-UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU), Aozora Bank, CTBC Financial Holding, Mizuho Bank, DZ Bank AG, First Commercial Bank Limited, and Taiwan Cooperative Bank. Citibank and BTMU each contributed $47.8 million AUD. Aozora, CTBC, and Mizuho each contributed $25 million AUD. BOC, DZ Bank, First Commercial Bank, and Taiwan Cooperative Bank each contributed between $17.5 million AUD and $22.5 million AUD. Citibank served as the underwriter, mandated lead arranger, and sole bookrunner. BTMU joined in syndication as a mandated lead arranger. Aozora, CTBC, and Mizuho joined in syndication as lead arrangers. BOC, DZ Bank, First Commercial Bank, and Taiwan Cooperative Bank joined in syndication as arrangers. The loan was oversubscribed by 50% in syndication. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower for its $400.6 million AUD (€319.8 million EUR; $417.7 million USD) acquisition of a 100% equity stake in Australian energy infrastructure company Epic Energy South Australia Pty Ltd (Epic SA), which owns the Moomba to Adelaide Pipeline System (MAPS) and the South East Pipeline System (SEPS), from APA Group. MAPS is a 1,185 kilometer-long gas pipeline system servicing the South Australian market, featuring a main line from Moomba to Adelaide and a number of lateral pipelines. SEPS is a 70 kilometer-long pas pipeline system in south-eastern South Australia which connects Katnook, Snuggery, and Mount Gambier to the South East Australia Gas Pipeline. Financial close (completion of acquisition) was expected to be completed at the end of April 2013. The acquisition was completed on May 1, 2013.
Staff comments
1. BOC's precise contribution is unknown, but it is known that BOC contributed between $17.5 million AUD and $22.5 million AUD. Therefore, to estimate BOC's contribution, AidData has taken the average value ($20,000,000 AUD) of this two figures as the transaction amount. 2. While BOC's approximate contribution range to this loan syndicate is unknown, it is unclear how it contributed to each loan tranche, if it even contributed to each tranche. To estimate BOC's contribution, AidData has taken the average maturity rate {[(5 + 3 + 1) / 3] = 3} and the known average interest rate {[(2% + 1.8% + 0.75%) / 3] 4.146%}.