Gunvor Signs $1.67bn Loan Refinancing
Swiss oil and energy trader Gunvor Group has signed a $1.67 billion revolving credit facility to refinance a US$1.15bn facility from November 2015 and a US$85m facility from November 2014, the company announced on Thursday.
The financing, which represents a 30 percent increase in total available facilities, will be used for general corporate purposes and working capital requirements.
The loan, which is available for Gunvor International BV and Gunvor SA, comprises a $1.415 billion, 364-day revolving credit facility with a 364-day extension option; and a $255 million, three-year revolving credit facility with a 364-day extension option.
The loan was launched at $1.1 billion and closed substantially oversubscribed.
"Despite the challenging market, which has put pressure on syndication deals, we're pleased that Gunvor's new direction has received the full confidence of our current banking partners as well as a growing number of new financial institutions," Jacques Erni, Gunvor Group's chief financial officer said.
"This strong support led to a significant increase in the total facility, which we even had to scale down in the end."
ABN AMRO, ING Bank, Natixis (KN.PA), Rabobank, UniCredit, Credit Agricole (XCA.F) and Societe Generale (SGE.SG) acted as active bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers, while Credit Suisse, DBS Bank, Natixis, UBS Switzerland and UniCredit were bookrunning mandated lead arrangers. Credit Suisse is also facility agent on the transaction.
On Tuesday Gunvor announced it had closed a $725 million borrowing base facility to provide working capital for the company's refining activities in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp region.
That 364-day facility launched at US$700m via coordinator ING Bank, closed oversubscribed at $805 million, before being scaled back to $725 million.
(By Alasdair Reilly)
