Global commodities trader Mercuria has secured a ¥70.5bn (US$488mn) samurai term loan facility from a syndicate of 23 banks.

The new facility replaces a smaller, ¥55.5bn facility secured in 2020 and the company says it is the fifth time it has raised financing from the Japanese syndicated lending market.

The loan will be used for general working capital and corporate uses and has a thee-year tenor, the trader says.

The scale of financing required to fund the operations of global commodity traders has jumped this year largely due to the soaring prices of many energy, metals and agricultural products as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although banks have largely stuck by large established names such as Mercuria and competitors including Glencore, Trafigura and Vitol.

“This is our fifth samurai loan and our most successful yet, demonstrating a strong vote of confidence from our Asian banking partners in Mercuria’s business mode and performance,” says Mercuria group chief financial officer Guillaume Vermersch. “It raised an additional ¥15bn of liquidity and was well supported by both existing and new lenders, despite such a volatile market environment.”

The financing was coordinated by Mizuho, MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, who act as joint bookrunning mandated lead arrangers.

When asked by GTR, Mercuria declined to name the other 20 banks participating in the facility, including the seven new lenders it says have joined this year.

Geneva-headquartered Mercuria announced last December it had signed US$1.3bn-worth worth of revolving credit facilities with 31 banks to fund its operations across the region.

The company is active in the oil, natural gas, metals and agricultural commodities sectors.