Brazil sugarcane processor Biosev has signed a US$318mn syndicated export pre-payment facility with eight banks.

Priced at Libor + 4.75%, the transaction will have up to three drawdowns between January and March 2015, and will mature in April 2018.

The deal was co-ordinated by Crédit Agricole, ING and Natixis, with ABN Amro, Caixa Geral, FIM, Rabobank and Société Générale as additional lenders.

“This transaction is yet another important step for Biosev to increase its financial liquidity and improve its debt maturity profile,” says Paulo Prignolato, Biosev‘s chief financial officer.

“The agreement is proof of our good relationship with the banking community and a testimony of the significance and quality of our operations.”

In another move to improve financial liquidity, Biosev signed an agreement to make the International Finance Corporation (IFC) a shareholder last December. The company decided to issue around R$128mn (US$48.9mn) of new shares, with the IFC subscribing to up to all of them.

In October 2013, Biosev failed to raise US$300mn in international bonds due to “adverse market conditions”. At the time, the firm was rumoured to want to raise up to US$500mn at a yield of 9-10%, but it ended up announcing a US$300mn deal priced at 11-12%, which still failed to attract enough investors.