Durban, South Africa – JSE Limited listed Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (APN), a global multinational specialty pharmaceutical company, has closed a multi-currency, syndicated term loan and revolving credit facilities agreement. These facilities, totalling circa EUR 1,26 billion equivalent, were put in place to refinance Aspen’s 2018 syndicated loan facilities.
The facilities were structured across EUR, ZAR and AUD term and revolving credit facilities, with tenors of three to four years and additional extension options available. All facilities were consolidated into a single facility agreement, with lenders ranking pari-passu. Following primary syndication, the transaction was significantly oversubscribed thereby providing substantial scale-back to the lenders.
Stephen Saad, Aspen Group Chief Executive said, “We are very pleased with the outcome of this syndication particularly noting the current global risk-off sentiment. It is encouraging to see that all invited lenders have supported the transaction which is testament to their confidence in the Aspen Group.”
Citi, FirstRand Bank Limited, acting through its Rand Merchant Bank division (“RMB”), MUFG Bank (Europe) N.V. (“MUFG”), and Nedbank Limited, acting through its Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking division (“Nedbank”) acted as Coordinators, Bookrunners and Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers for this transaction. MUFG acted as the Documentation Agent while ABSA Bank Limited acted as Facility Agent and RMB as the Publicity Agent.
Coordinators, Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners:
- Citi
- RMB
- MUFG
- Nedbank
Mandated Lead Arrangers:
- ABSA Bank Limited
- BNP Paribas
- China Construction Bank Corporation, Johannesburg Branch
- Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg S.A.
- Investec Bank Limited
- JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., London Branch
- Mizuho Bank Limited
- National Australia Bank Limited
- Sanlam Life Insurance (acting through its Sanlam Specialised Finance Division)
- Standard Chartered Bank
- Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited
- The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited
Lead Arrangers:
- AfrAsia Bank Limited
- Bank of America