Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On May 19, 2009, a syndicate of 26 banks — including the Macau and Sydney Branches of Bank of China (BOC), China Development Bank (CDB), the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), and Seng Heng Bank Limited (SHB) — signed a $1.1 billion USD equivalent syndicated facility (loan) agreement with Woodside Finance Ltd. — a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian petroleum exploration and production firm Woodside Petroleum Ltd. This syndicated facility was divided into two tranches: a $962.8 million USD Facility A tranche with an interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin 225 basis points (bps) and interest payable semi-annually in arrears; and a ¥13 billion JPY ($136.1 million USD) Facility B tranche with an interest rate of Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate (TIBOR) plus a margin of 225 bps and interest payable semi-annually in arrears. The entire syndicated facility carried a maturity period of three years and was subject to covenants including a negative pledge. The proceeds of this loan were to be used by the borrower for general corporate and capital expenditure purposes. The $1.1 billion USD equivalent under this facility was drawn down on June 1, 2009. Projects ID#95941 and #109951 capture the contributions of the Macau and Sydney Branches of Bank of China (BOC). Record ID#95942 captures CDB's contribution. Record ID#95943 captures ICBC's contribution. Record ID#95948 captures SHB's contribution. Then, on December 8, 2010, a syndicate of 34 banks — including BOC and the Sydney Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $1.100 billion USD syndicated loan facility agreement with Woodside Finance Ltd. This facility was divided into two tranches: a $550 million USD term facility known as Facility A and a $550 million USD revolving facility known as Facility. Both tranches of the facility carried a maturity period of five years, a final maturity date in 2015, and interest rates based on LIBOR plus a margin of 195 basis points (bps), and were fixed at the commencement of the drawdown period, with interest paid at the end of the drawdown period. The facility was subject to covenants such as a negative pledge restricting future secured borrowings, albeit with a number of permitted lien exceptions. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Woodside Energy Ltd each issued guarantees in support of this loan. The proceeds of this loan were to be used by the borrower to repay the May 2009 $1.100 billion USD syndicated loan facility, for general corporate purposes, and to fund capital expenditures. The entire $1.100 billion USD under the new loan was fully utilized by the borrower on December 15, 2010. BOC contributed $85 million USD and ICBC each $50 million USD to the loan. Record ID#94382 captures BOC's contribution to this loan. Record ID#101193 captures ICBC (Sydney)'s contribution to this loan. Then, in April 2015, a syndicate of 27 banks — including the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), BOC, China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB), and ICBC — signed a $1.000 billion USD syndicated revolving credit facility (RCF) agreement with Woodside Finance Ltd. for refinancing, capital expenditure, and general corporate purposes. This loan was divided into two tranches: a $500 million USD tranche with a maturity period of three years and an interest rate of USD LIBOR plus a margin of 0.9% and a $500 million USD tranche with a maturity period of five years and an interest rate of USD LIBOR plus a margin of 1.15%. Interest was to paid at the end of the drawdown period. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower for capital expenditure and general corporate purposes and to repay existing indebtedness, namely the prepayment of the drawn component of the $1.1 billion USD syndicated loan facility executed in December 2010. The loan was executed on July 3, 2015 and the December 2010 facility was repaid in full on July 16, 2015. Record ID#99865 captures ABC's contribution. Record ID#99866 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#99867 captures CCB's contribution. Record ID#99868 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to the Chinese state-owned banks, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Westpac Banking Corporation, ABN AMRO Bank N.V., BNP Paribas S.A., Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank), Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CACIB), DBS Bank, DNB ASA, Export Development Canada (EDC), Mizuho Bank, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), Chiba Bank, Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), HSBC Bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank (HNCB), ING Bank N.V., Mega International Commercial Bank, Shinsei Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB), and United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB). BTMU, CBA, and Westpac served as joint bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers. The other lenders joined in syndication. BOC, ICBC, ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Scotiabank, CACIB, DBS, DNB, EDC, Mizuho, RBC, and SMBC joined as mandated lead arrangers. ABC, CCB, ANZ, Chiba, CIC, HSBC, HNCB, ING, Mega International, Shinsei, SMTB, and UOB joined as participants. On March 22, 2016, the lending syndicate amended the $1.000 billion USD loan facility, increasing its face value by $200 million USD to $1.200 billion USD. Then, on November 15, 2017, the lending syndicate amended the $1.200 billion USD loan facility, decreasing its face value by $400 million USD to $800 million USD. Then, on October 14, 2019, the lending syndicate amended the $800 million USD loan facility, increasing its face value by $400 million USD to $1.200 billion USD. Additionally, the loan terms were amended so that $400 million USD would mature on October 11, 2022 — a maturity period extension of four years for a new maturity period of seven years — with an interest rate of USD LIBOR plus a margin of 0.85% — an interest rate reduction of 0.05% — and $800 million USD would on October 11, 2024 — a maturity period extension of four years for a new maturity period of nine years — with an interest rate of USD LIBOR plus a margin of 1.0% — an interest rate reduction of 0.15%. Projects ID#99869, #110826, #110827, and #110828 capture this maturity period extension and interest rate adjustment from the four Chinese lenders. Then, in 2022, a syndicate of banks entered into a syndicated loan agreement with Woodside to refinancing the existing debt; while $800 million USD remained expiring on October 11, 2014, two new tranches for $1.2 billion USD combined were executed, with $600 million USD expiring on July 12, 2025, and $600 million USD expiring on July 12, 2027, with interest rates based on SOBR and margins. It is unclear whether Chinese state-owned banks participated in this refinancing.
Staff comments
1. The individual contributions of the 27 lenders to this $1 billion USD syndicated loan are unknown. The face value of this loan varied from $800 million USD to $1.2 billion USD; with $1.2 billion USD occurring twice and being the final value; therefore, AidData has based its contribution amount on this figure. 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, CCB, and ICBC by assuming that each lender contributed an equal amount ($44,444,444.4444 USD) to the syndicated loan. 2. As it is unclear whether the lenders contributed to each tranche, AidData has taken the average of the two tranches [(3 + 5) / 2] = 4] and coded it as the maturity period of this record and taken the average of the two interest rates (assuming a 6-month LIBOR, the average 6-month LIBOR for July 2015 being 0.60637%) {[(0.60637% + 0.9%) + (0.60637% + 1.15%)] / 2 = 1.63137} and coded it as the interest rate of this record.