VDM Metals has signed a €300mn borrowing base facility with a syndicate of nine banks.

The three-year facility was co-ordinated by Deutsche Bank, which underwrote it at €260mn and upsized it to €300mn after receiving commitments amounting to €360mn from the international syndication market.

In addition to Deutsche Bank, the facility closed with Bayerische Landesbank, DZ Bank, HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt, IKB Deutsche Industriebank as mandated lead arrangers, Commerzbank as senior lead arranger and HSH Nordbank, KfW Ipex-Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International as lead arrangers.

The facility has a margin of 3.5% and will be used for working capital purposes, including the financing of imports and exports, following the group’s acquisition by private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg on July 31, 2015.

Paul Pruss, of Lindsay Goldberg, explains: “The financing structure we have implemented with Deutsche Bank perfectly fits to the needs of VDM given its flexibility to react immediately to fluctuating metal prices. This has been well understood by Deutsche Bank structured commodity trade finance, well-transported by Deutsche Bank syndications team and finally well-accepted by a number of highly reputable European banks evidenced by a decent oversubscription for a first-time external financing.”

Hogan Lovells acted as legal counsel to the lenders and the borrowers were advised by Gleiss Lutz.

VDM is the largest nickel alloy processor in Europe and second-largest in the world. It operates eight production facilities: six in Germany and two the US.