Supply chain services specialist Czarnikow has closed its first committed syndicated borrowing base facility, securing US$80mn from a group of six global banks.

Initially launched at US$50mn, the oversubscribed deal was arranged by two of Czarnikow’s long-standing lending partners, Rabobank and Natixis.

Rabobank served as coordinator, documentation agent and mandated lead arranger (MLA), while Natixis acted as facility agent, security agent and MLA.

Société Générale, ING, GarantiBank International and Banco do Brasil were the other participants on the facility, while Cofarco served as an advisor to Czarnikow.

Proceeds from the facility will help support the company’s trading business in sugar globally, a Czarnikow spokesperson tells GTR.

Speaking about the deal, Julian Randles, CFO at Czarnikow, says: “We are proud that our long-standing financial partners have gone beyond our previous bilateral relationships to commit to a syndicate facility.

“The new facility has been structured to cover sugar, but CZ has evolved to also trade a range of food and beverage ingredients, packaging and energy products in recent years. We will be looking to engage with our finance partners to deploy freed-up capacity to support us in this development.”

Guillaume Genet, global head of commodity trade finance at Natixis, says: “As the company has experienced a consistent growth of its footprint in the origination markets, Natixis has been pleased to work with CZ and Rabobank to close this first borrowing base facility.”

While Czarnikow buys sugar and ethanol from countries globally, it largely sources these products from Brazil and Asia. Overall, the trader had revenue of close to US$2.4bn in 2020, a marked rise from the US$1.8bn seen the year prior.

The landmark syndicated facility comes roughly 18 months after Czarnikow hired Tanya Epshteyn as head of structured finance from Société Générale, where she had been serving as a director for trade commodity finance.

At the time, GTR reported that she would be responsible for working with new and existing finance partners and would seek to bring innovative finance solutions to Czarnikow’s clients.

A spokesperson for Czarnikow says the company had been working with its partner banks to structure the transaction for the past few years, as part of efforts to expand its trading business and supply chain service offerings.