The US$1.15bn pre-export financing for Angolan oil company Sonangol has been awarded to mandated arrangers Africa Merchant Bank, BNP Paribas, Natexis Banques Populaires and SG. Syndication will be launched in early March.

The facility is split into three tranches and will be structured as a pre-payment facility with an SPV as the borrower and will be repaid through spot oil deliveries. The margin is 225bp over Libor for years one to three and 250bp thereafter.