The loan is a one-year facility whereby the borrower may issue various types of bonds (including bid and performance bonds, standby LCs) and financial guarantees.
This is the first time such a committed bonding facility has been arranged in the syndicated bank market. It represents an addition to Glencore’s committed liquidity for margin calls and a substantial increase in bonding capacity.
The mandated lead arranger has been joined in this facility by a group of lead arrangers consisting of BNP Paribas, RBS, UFJ Bank, ABN Amro, a group of arrangers consisting of KBC Bank, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Bayerische HypoVereinsbank, SEB AG Merchant Banking, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and a group of co-arrangers comprising ANZ, Credit Suisse, HSBC Bank, Luzerner Kantonalbank and National Austalia Bank.
Glencore International AG is rated BBB- (stable) and Baa3 (stable) respectively by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s . For the 2003 fiscal year, Glencore’s turnover was US$54.6bn, total assets were US$15bn and total shareholders equity was US$3bn as at December 31, 2003.
