Ecom Agroindustrial Asia, the Singaporean business entity under Swiss commodities trader Ecom, is seeking a third extension of a $550m loan it raised in April 2019.
DBS, HSBC, ING and Rabobank are the mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners for the latest amendment and extension exercise, according to a banker who received the invitation letter.
The original loan raised in 2019 was split between a $366.67m 364 days revolving credit facility and a $183.33m three year revolver. The company extended the 364 days tranche twice in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and each time by same original maturity.
This time around, Ecom is asking bankers’ consent to extend both tranches by another year, so the new maturity for both the facilities will fall on the same date, which is in April 2023.
At the same time, Ecom is also making a shift away from Libor to the new benchmark Secured Overnight Financing Rate or Sofr. The new margin for both portions will be 135bp over daily compounded Sofr.
The original margins were set at 125bp over Libor for the 364 days facility and 175bp for the three year when the deal was first sealed in 2019.
ABN Amro, DBS, HSBC, ING and Rabobank were the lead banks at that time. They brought in 13 participants during general syndication, Dealogic data shows.
Ecom, founded in 1849, is an agricultural commodities trader with a special focus on coffee, cotton and cocoa.