Fortescue back in the market
Fortescue Metals Group has once again managed to secure financing from a host of banks to cover its expansion project at Port Hedland, Western Australia.
The US$1.5bn dual tranche facility will mature on December 31, 2013.
The loan comprises a US$750mn term loan and a US$750mn revolving credit facility.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is acting as the underwriter and arranger on the facility, although names of the other banks could not be disclosed. However, ANZ who was involved in the group’s last financing in June this year, confirms to GTR that ANZ was not involved this time around.
Fortescue’s CEO Stephen Pearce says that Fortescue’s latest loan will provide a short-term funding solution to support its expansion, which will see it triple its annual iron ore output to 155 million tonnes by the middle of next year.
The group was last in the market in June this year with a US$490mn export credit agency-backed facility from ANZ, KfW and HSBC. On that occasion the funds were used to expand the group’s mining expansion project in the western Pilbara region, Australia.
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