Mandated lead arranger Calyon has closed a five-year pre-financing facility for the Argentine oilseed producer Vicentin. The borrower originally approached the market for a US$75mn facility, but managed to raise US$100mn during syndication and opted to take the increase.

The funds will be used for Capex purposes, and it is backed by exports of agricultural goods such as sunflower oils, and soybean oil, bran, cotton oil and pelleted soybean bran. Caylon had previously arranged a US$75mn pre-financing for Vicentin in 2005.

Vicentin is a well-established borrower in the Argentine market. In 2004, WestLB arranged a US$70mn facility for Vicentin, marking one of the first trade deals raised since the Argentine crisis that did not require the support of multilateral institutions or development bank funding. The deal was structured as a two-year structured export-backed financing facility.

In July this year, WestLB finalised a landmark deal with Vicentin, arranging the first major financing for a biofuel project in Argentina. WestLB acted as the sole mandated lead arranger and arranged a US$27mn non-recourse facility to finance construction of a biodiesel plant. The project is known as Renova, and is sponsored 50:50 by Vicentin and Oleaginosa Moreno Hermanos.

Vicentin’s core business is oilseed crushing and exporting of oil, and other by-products. As of February 2000 it acquired a cotton mill in the industrial area of Reconquista, Vicentin and Algodonera Avellaneda, and since then is has also been involved in the ginning, storage and spinning of cotton.