JB's weekly round-up - 21 October 2013
Last week we were pleased to welcome the well-known and greatly admired trade and commodity finance lawyer Geoffrey Wynne back to the world of trade finance following his required one-year absence from the market after leaving Dentons.
Welcome to the weekly round-up of the TXF news service.
Welcome back...
Last week we were pleased to welcome the well-known and greatly admired trade and commodity finance lawyer Geoffrey Wynne back to the world of trade finance following his required one-year absence from the market after leaving Dentons.
TXF spoke with Geoff last Wednesday on his first day behind the desk at his new firm Sullivan & Worcester, where he will lead the team at the newly opened offices. Geoff told TXF how keen he is to get back into business and is looking forward to a fresh offering. He is joined in the London office by four associates - Hannah Fearn, Sam Fowler-Holmes, Tom Glinka, Anna Koshy and Alexandra Tillbrook - all previously with Dentons.
TXF also congratulates John McAdams, formerly COO and vice-chairman at US Ex-Im, on his arrival at ExWorks Capital, a newly formed joint venture between Interlink Capital Strategies and RedRidge Finance Group. ExWorks offers export trade financing solutions to underserved US exporters and international buyers using US Ex-Im loan guarantees and insurance.
Big commodity-related deal successes
There were several mega commodity-related deals coming to the surface last week, which again shows how – in some quarters – the market is picking up. These deals gave a good degree of relief to numerous banks looking to book first-class transactions.
Ithaca Energy came in with its successful $710 financing through two tranches; one of which being a three-year and eight month reserve based lending facility. Congratulations to BNP Paribas and Scotiabank on their arranging capabilities.
In the mix last week was news of the signing of oil traderVitol’s $7 billion revolving credit facility (RCF). The bulk of the financing was a $6.159 billion facility with a three-year tenor. See TXF News for a full listing of all the banks involved.
And also on the menu last week was news of Trafigura’s $1.76 billion Asian-centred RCF. Of particular interest was the inclusion of a renminbi (RMB) tranche. As far as we are aware, Trafigura is the first trading company to include an RMB tranche is such a facility. The structure helped to bring in new banks, primarily from Taiwan.
ECAs continue to circle natural resources
Not surprisingly, Asian export credit agencies (ECAs) continue to follow their companies into territories to support the flow of essential raw materials back to Asia. Two deals of last week drive this trend home.
South Korea’s Kexim is giving Daewoo Engineering & Construction support in Iraq through $117 million in guarantees for part of the work the company is undertaking on the $8 billion Akkas Gas Field Project in Iraq. Few ECAs are this supportive in such difficult territory. However, with much work still to be done, expect further Korean agency support.
In Argentina, Japan’s Nexi is providing $53.68 million insurance to support Toyota Tsusho Corporation’s role in the Salar de Olaroz lithium resource development project. Again, this is an essential raw material – to be used primarily in lithium-ion batteries for the next generation of electric automobiles.
And finally……
If skinny micro flare jeans and other trend-setter items are your thing, you may be interested to see the $110 million acquisition financing that CIT Capital markets arranged for fashion retailer Joe’s jeans to buy Hudson Clothing Holdings in North America. CIT will also be providing factoring services to the combined companies.
All the best,
Jonathan Bell
Editor-in-Chief
