Airbus completes amend and extend of 3 billion euro loan
By Alasdair Reilly
LONDON (Reuters) - European aerospace company Airbus Group has completed an amend and extend of its existing 3 billion euro (2.37 billion pounds) revolving credit facility, the company said in a statement.
A/A2/A- rated Airbus Group, previously European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), has joined other highly-rated European corporates to amend and extend their longer-dated credit facilities to improve terms and refresh maturities.
The financing now has a new five-year maturity plus two one-year extension options, while pricing has been reduced to 20bp over Euribor. The existing deal paid an initial margin of 37.5bp based on a ratings grid.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Credit Agricole CIB, Royal Bank of Scotland and UniCredit were coordinators on the amendment.
Tier one lenders also included UniCredit Bank, BBVA, Banco Santander; Barclays; BNP Paribas, Citibank, Commerzbank, Credit Industriel et Commercial, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Mizuho Bank, Natixis, Societe Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking.
Tier two lenders were ANZ Banking Group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BayernLB, DZ Bank, Goldman Sachs, ING, JP Morgan Chase, KfW IPEX-Bank, LBBW, Helaba, Lloyds Bank, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada and SEB.
Tier three lenders were Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse, Danske Bank, DBS Bank, ICBC (London), Standard Chartered Bank, TD Bank, UBS and Westpac Banking.
EADS originally agreed the financing, which is for back-up purposes, in April 2011 via a group of 39 banks coordinated by BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland. The financing was for five-years with two one-year extension options.
The first extension option was exercised in April 2012 with the agreement of 38 banks and the second extension options was exercised in April 2013 with the agreement of 37 banks, leaving total commitments of 2.907 billion euros maturing in 2018.
(Editing by Christopher Mangham)
