Published October 29, 2009

Noble Group completes US$2.4b financing deal

Issue is largest US-dollar syndicated corporate loan in Asia-Pac this year

By OH BOON PING

	Email this article
	Print article
	Feedback

COMMODITIES company Noble Group has completed a US$2.4 billion three- tranche financing deal, the largest US-dollar syndicated corporate loan in the Asia-Pacific region this year.

Noble said that the issue was subscribed to US$2.4 billion, so it raised the deal size from the target size of US$1.8 billion.

The exercise attracted strong market interest worldwide.

The final syndicate comprises diverse financial institutions from 26 countries/regions on five continents.

The number of participants totals 63, making the deal one of the most widely subscribed in the Asia-Pacific.

It is also notable in that Chinese banks were major bookrunners.

For example, the Agricultural Bank of China's Singapore branch and China Development Bank Corporation's Hong Kong branch took up sizeable chunks of the deal.

Their lead role came on the heels of China Investment Corp's US$850 million purchase of a 15 per cent stake in Noble in September this year.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Commerzbank, DBS Bank, HSBC, ING Bank, JP Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking and Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong made up the rest of the bookrunning mandated lead arrangers.

The original Noble deal was launched on Aug 28, with three US$600 million revolving credit tranches.

Tranche A is a new 364-day new facility, while tranches B and C are one- and two-year extensions of the borrower's outstanding US$1.2 billion three-year revolver completed in 2007.

The maturities of tranche B and C for new lenders are two and three years respectively.

Tranche A is now US$645.2 million, while tranches B and C are each US$877.4 million.

The Noble deal pays top-level all-ins of 180 basis points for tranche A, 242.5 basis points for tranche B and 295 basis points for tranche C, based on current margin ranges from 135 basis points to 240 basis points over the London Interbank Offered Rate.

Chief executive Richard Elman said: 'This is the second syndicated financing deal we have completed this year and we are extremely pleased with the support evidenced for Noble in the size, scope and quality of this banking group. This represents a strong message of confidence in Noble.'