Olam secures US$1 billion in loan facility

OLAM International said on Wednesday it has secured a revolving credit and term-loan facility amounting to US$1 billion, which it will use to refinance debt as well as meet its working capital and general corporate funding needs.

The facility consists of two tranches, a US$850 million 364-day revolving credit facility and a US$150 million five-year term loan.

Olam's executive director of finance and business development A Shekhar said the refinancing is a part of the commodity trader's proactive capital management strategy of diversifying its debt portfolio to achieve "an optimum mix of tenor and overall borrowing cost".

The loan comes several days after Olam completed the acquisition of ADM's global cocoa business at an enterprise value of US$1.2 billion on a cash free and debt free basis.

The lead arrangers for the latest facility comprise ANZ, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA's Singapore branch, The Bank of Nova Scotia Asia, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank AG, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank BA, DBS Bank, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, JPMorgan Chase Bank, The Korea Development Bank, Mizuho Bank, National Australia Bank Limited, Natixis, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Westpac Banking Corporation.