Commodities trader Trafigura has returned to the international syndicated bank loan markets, refinancing two deals and attracting new lenders.
The first deal, a 365-day European multi-currency syndicated revolving credit facility (ERCF), closed substantially oversubscribed at US$1.9bn, 27% above the launching amount of US$1.5bn. The ERCF will be used to refinance last year’s US$2.05bn facility. The pricing of the facility was unchanged from last year.
In addition, the company decided to exercise the second extension option available on the three-year tranche of its 2018 ERCF, thereby extending the facility by 365 days and maintaining a three-year tenor.
The second deal saw Trafigura make its fifth appearance on the Japanese domestic syndicated bank loan market, with the raising of ¥76.8bn (approximately US$720mn) via a yen-denominated term loan, dubbed the samurai loan. The company has refinanced this three-year tranche every two years since 2012, with this particular transaction refinancing the ¥72.64bn (US$682mn) facility closed in 2018. This year, the company also introduced an inaugural five-year tranche. Twenty Japanese financial institutions supported the samurai loan, up from 19 in 2018. Five new institutions joined the syndicate, while Trafigura says that the majority of existing lenders increased their amount invested.
The 365-day ERCF was arranged by mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners Bank of China, ING and UniCredit acting as active bookrunners, along with Rabobank and Société Générale CIB acting as passive bookrunners.
MUFG Bank, Mizuho, SMBC and the Development Bank of Japan acted as bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers for the samurai loan.
“Given the unprecedented times that the global economy is undergoing, the simultaneous re-financing of two core credit facilities puts Trafigura in a position of strength to navigate through the uncertainties lying ahead and to seize upcoming opportunities,” says Christophe Salmon, Trafigura’s CFO.
