Related News

ECAs throw support behind steel giant’s decarbonisation push

Swift says CBDC testing for trade payments showing positive results

Banks must adapt to survive as commodity finance demand slumps

Olam bags US$625mn shariah-compliant facility

Trade Leaders Interview: Marie-Laure Gastellu, Société Générale

US trading company Freepoint Commodities has continued its assault on Asia by adding a number of Asian banks to its extended and expanded credit facilities.

The Connecticut-based company extended a US$2.1bn revolving credit facility (RCF) for a further three years and upsized it to US$2.4bn by adding a US$300mn accordion feature.

In total there are three tranches. In addition to the accordion feature – which allows a borrower the ability to extend its debt facilities for working capital purposes if needed – there is a US$1.443bn committed tranche with a three-year tenor and a further US$655mn uncommitted one-year tranche.

BNP Paribas, BTMU and Natixis acted as joint lead arrangers. BNP Paribas and BTMU were also joint bookrunners. BNP Paribas was administrative agent.

Co-syndication and co-documentation agents are ING, Natixis, Société Générale and Rabobank, while the additional lenders on the syndicate are ABN Amro, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and UBS.

Added to the RCF for the first time are Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Standard Chartered – banks which carry significant clout in Asia’s commodities business, and it’s these banks that CEO David Messer singles out for praise, perhaps indicative of the company’s overall drive into Asia.

“We truly appreciate the strong relationships we have with our existing bank group and welcome the addition of three new participants to the facility: Bank of China, ICBC and Standard Chartered. Our lenders have demonstrated their sustained commitment to supporting Freepoint’s ongoing expansion throughout this amendment and extension process,” he says.

The company did not wish to comment on its Asia strategy when contacted by GTR, but it has been reported in the financial press that the company is making a push into Asia’s metals and energy markets.

Freepoint has made a number of hires in its Shanghai and Singapore trading teams, and Messer told Bloomberg in the third-quarter of last year: “We continue to seek growth opportunities in our physical trading businesses where we can identify niches in the supply chain. At the current time, we’re finding multiple opportunities in both metals generally and Asia specifically.”

The company has no doubt been emboldened by the retreat of a number of high-profile banks from the physical commodity scene, such as Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.