JB's weekly round-up - 31 March 2014

That was the week that was…
 
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Stemcor boosted by new credit facility

Last week, steel trader Stemcor signed a new $1.15 billion syndicated loan that will give the company a significant lift following its debt restructuring. The company’s CEO, Julian Verden, hails the arrangement as a turning point. See the news article for details of the arranging banks.

 
Banks jump onboard for Bunge revolver

As we go through a wave of RCF refinancings with commodity trading companies, agri-trader and producer Bunge put to bed its$1.75 billion revolver last week. Some 40 financial institutions came onboard for the deal, which was swiftly taken through syndication in just over a month. Check out the news item for full details.

 
Trafi secures first significant yen loan

Just before Trafigura closed its whopping $4.735 billion RCF, the trading company interestingly secured its first significant Japanese yen loan of JPY25.5 billion ($250 million).
 
With Trafi transacting an increasing number of essential commodity import trade flow deals with Japan, the involvement of nine Japanese banks in the transaction can be seen as a positive development of relationship building. Further detail can be seen in the news report.
 
It has been a very busy period for the commodity trader, who also appointed Jeremy Weir as its new CEO last week.

Roy Hill finally secures record mine financing

After what seems like an eternity in coming to a close, the Roy Hilliron ore mine financing finally signed last week. At $7.2 billion, this Western Australian project is the largest ever project financing for a mining project.
 
Some five export credit agencies are already involved in the deal structure, and further agencies could come in at a later date. The project will of course have significant benefits for the Australian economy. Tap into the news report for full deal details.

Financing closes on Canada’s K2 Wind project

There is a healthy stream of Canadian wind power projects blowing into the hands of financiers at the present time. The latest project to reach financial close is the 270MW K2 Wind Power project in Ontario – which will be one of Canada’s largest wind farms. If anyone knows why it has got the name of the world’s second highest mountain, please do let me know! Financing amounting to C$850 million ($771.4 million) has been secured for the project by a group of 15 financial institutions.
 
The project story is a particularly interesting one, and the sponsors – Samsung, Pattern Energy and Capital Power – are involved in some local projects to benefit the local community. These are rather like voluntary offset obligations, but provide evidence of how other wind power developers could ease project implementation in other parts of the world. Siemens is, again, a major winner with this project. Check out the news detail.

EDC provides financing for Turkey’s AKLease

Export Development Canada (EDC) does not operate like most other export credit agencies – it has always been more like a commercial bank. But what it does do – and rather well – is work proactively for the benefit of Canadian exporters. So, this latest deal with Turkey’s Ak Finansal Kiralama, although small at $10 million (for now), does put Canadian companies in the front line for equipment leasing contracts in Turkey.
 
With the Turkish government announcing €100 billion ($137.8 billion) worth of infrastructure projects over the next five years, who can afford to ignore this activity and potentially lucrative export contracts. Further detail can be found in the news item.

Credit Bank of Moscow secures syndicated loan

A loan of $500 million secured by Credit Bank of Moscow (CBM) last week is the first syndicated deal for a Russian financial institution so far this year. And the fact that it has come through successfully demonstrates that good credits can ride through a very serious political background as we are seeing with the Russian-Ukrainian Crimea scenario.
 
The loan to CBM is the bank’s largest yet. CBM also carries the distinction of being the only private Russian bank to have secured a tenor of more than 12 months. Seventeen lenders were involved in the deal. See them all listed in the news item.

Hot moves

As ever, our sector is never short of people moves. Last week saw BPL Global recruit Sian Aspinall as its development and technical director.
 
In the banking world, HSBC has appointed Stuart Nivison as its new global head of business banking. He will be based in London, and will be responsible for services with SMEs in 27 countries.
 
And at Deutsche Bank, Evan Goldstein becomes the global head of the new RMB services department. He is based in Hong Kong.

 
And finally…

It’s a funny old game – cricket that is! Very few countries play it – although one that does is the second most populous on the planet – India that is. And many people in the countries that do play the game don’t fully understand it. Of course, it was one of those games I personally grew up on and played as soon as I could walk. So – most of you out there no doubt think it’s a game only played by certain English speaking nations. Wrong! The Netherlands also plays the game, and last week beat sorry old England in the Cricket World Cup at the game it brought to the world! Huh! Strange days (song?). Congratulations to the Netherlands, and to my old mate Willem Klaassens who used toplay cricket himself and some years ago told me that one day the boys in clogs would do it.

That's all for now folks.

Cheers
JB

Jonathan Bell
Editor-in-Chief