X5 Retail Group N.V. Raises USD $1,1 billion in a 3-Year Syndicated Loan
18 Dec 2007
Amsterdam, 18 December 2007 - X5 Retail Group N.V., Russia's largest food retailer in terms of sales (LSE ticker: “FIVE”), announced today that it has mandated BNP Paribas, CALYON, HSBC Bank plc, ING Bank N.V. and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB) (each an “Initial Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner”) to arrange a USD $1,1 billion 3 year Term Loan Facility. Societe Generale joined the transaction prior to the launch of general syndication as a Mandated Lead Arranger.
The proceeds of the Facility will be used to re-finance X5 Retail Group’s one year USD 1 billion equity bridge signed in June 2007 and for general corporate purposes.
The Facility pays a margin of 225 bps p.a. over LIBOR out of the box for the first year. Subsequently, the margin will move in accordance with a Net Debt/EBITDA grid with a maximum margin at the top of the grid of 200 bps p.a. over LIBOR.
General syndication will be launched in January 2008.
Deputy CFO of X5 Retail Group Evgeny Kornilov commented:
“This syndication underpins X5 Retail Group’s strength as a borrower and confirms the Company’s ability to raise financing on favourable terms even in a difficult market situation. The new facility enhances X5’s financial flexibility, improves its debt structure by replacing short-term obligations and reduces future cost of funding by avoiding a significant step-up in the interest rate on the previous bridge loan.”
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