Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On November 20, 2018, it was announced that a syndicate of 23 banks — including the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the Bank of China (BOC), the Bank of Communications (BoComm), China Merchants Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), and Tai Fung Bank — signed a $350 million USD syndicated loan agreement with Treasury Wine Estates Limited (TWE) — an Australian winemaking company — for working capital and capital investment purposes. This loan consisted of a $120 million USD tranche with a maturity period of five years, a final maturity period in November 2023, as known as 'Tranche B'. Record ID#99856 captures ABC's contribution. Record ID#99857 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#99858 captures BoComm's contribution. Record ID#99859 captures China Merchants Bank's contribution. Record ID#99860 captures ICBC's contribution. Record ID#99861 captures Tai Fung Bank's contribution. In addition to the Chinese state-owned banks, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Hua Nan Commercial Bank (HNCB), ABN AMRO N.V., Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), HSBC Bank, Bank of East Asia (BEA), E.Sun Commercial Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, First Commercial Bank, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank Limited, Land Bank of Taiwan (LBOT), Mega International Commercial Bank Co., Ltd., Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, Taiwan Business Bank (TBB), Bank of Taiwan, Bank SinoPac, Taiwan Shin Kong Commercial Bank, and CTBC Bank. As of June 30, 2019, the entire $350 million USD of this syndicated loan had been drawn down, for a carrying value of $499.6 million USD. Then, in December 2019, the lending syndicate entered into an agreement with TWE to amend and extend $230 million USD Tranche B of the $350 million USD syndicated loan; the maturity period was extended by one year to November 2026 (a new maturity period of eight years) and the interest rate was amended to LIBOR plus a margin of 150 bps from LIBOR plus a margin of 165 bps. Projects ID#99862, #110883, #110884, #110885, #110886, and #110887 capture the six Chinese lenders' contributions to this 2019 debt restructuring. Then, between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, the lending syndicate entered into an another agreement with TWE to amend and extend $230 million USD Tranche B of the $350 million USD syndicated loan; the maturity period was extended again by one year to November 2027 (a new maturity period of nine years). Projects ID#99863, #110888, #110889, #110890, #110891, and #110892 capture the six Chinese lenders' contributions to this 2020/21 debt restructuring. Then, in December 2021, TWE entered into a $1.4 billion AUD syndicated sustainability-linked loan agreement. The proceeds of this loan were used to refinance $1.4 billion AUD of existing debt facilities, seemingly including the $350 million USD syndicated loan. It is unclear whether any Chinese lenders participated in the $1.4 billion AUD loan.
Staff comments
1. The individual contributions of the 23 lenders to this $350 million USD syndicated loan is unknown. AidData has assumed each lender contributed to each tranche for purposes of the overall contribution calculation. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of ABC, BOC, BoComm, China Merchants, ICBC, and Tai Fung by assuming that each lender contributed an equal amount ($15,217,391.3043 USD) to the syndicated loan. 2. While it is evident that the Chinese lenders contributed to Tranche B, it is possible not contributed to Tranche A, to estimate the interest rate and maturity period, AidData has taken an average of the interest rate of Tranche A and B (assuming a 6-month LIBOR, the 6-month LIBOR average for November 2018 being 2.86411%) {[(2.86411% + 1.30%) + (2.86411% + 1.65%)] / 2}, or 4.33911% and the average of the maturities of Tranche A and B [(5 + 7) / 2] = 6. 3. As all financing was drawn down by the borrower, AidData considers the project_status to be Completion.