Mandated lead arrangers ABN Amro, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, SMBC, Société Générale, and WestLB have closed syndication on a US$2.5bn facility for the state-owned oil and gas company KazMunayGaz (KMG) in Kazakhstan. The deal was oversubscribed, but said to have been signed at the original amount requested. The margin is 155 basis points over Libor.
It has been said that the deal is partly refinancing the company’s US$3.1bn one-year unsecured bridge loan which was signed last September, with syndication closing in January. That facility was arranged by ABN Amro Bank, Calyon, Credit Suisse, and the deal paid a margin of 90 basis points over Libor, for KMG’s acquisition of the Rompetrol Group in Romania.
The facility was said to be one of the largest loans arranged for a corporate in Central Asia, and the acquisition was intended to significantly boost KMG’s refining capacity.
In 2007 KazMunayGaz also raised a further US$1.05bn bridge facility raised for the company’s special purpose vehicle KMG Kashagan. It was signed at the end of September by mandated lead arrangers Société Générale, BNP Paribas and Citi.
This signing of this pre-export facility follows KazMunayGas US$3bn debut bond offering in June. The offering is the biggest ever in the Central and Eastern Europe market to date, and one of the largest deals to be completed in an emerging market.
The joint lead managers of the bond offering were ABN Amro, Citigroup Global Markets and Credit Suisse Securities (Europe). The five-year and 10-year notes were placed with institutional investors in the US, Europe and Asia, and despite tough market conditions, the order book was almost twice oversubscribed. Law firm White & Case represented the joint lead managers, while KMG represented Bracewell & Giuliani.
The proceeds of the issue will be used to fund KMG’s development of Kashagan, one of the largest hydrocarbon fields to be discovered over the last 30 years, as well as general corporate purposes.
Reader Comments