Loan week, April 17-23

Australia

Australand has secured a A$350 million facility from three Australian banks to repay a A$563 million debt facility expiring in June 2009.

Meanwhile, A$100 million of a A$150 million unsecured debt coming due in 2009 have also been successfully renewed, while the balance A$50 million is still under discussion.

Except for the extensions, some of the covenants for the borrower's A$950 million multi-option facility have also been amended. The interest cover ratio has been reduced to two times from 2.5 times, while the gearing covenant has been decreased to 55% from 60%.

Banks are now putting together a two-month extension of Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings' A$80 million interim facility signed in March 2009, which will mature by the end of this month.

At the same time, banks are looking into a secured facility for the borrower to refinance its existing bank debt. The extension is expected to be finalised by the end of April.

China

Wuxi Construction Development Investment's Rmb700 million project financing has been completed via sole mandated lead arranger and bookrunner China Zheshang Bank.

The lead committed Rmb250 million, while participant Postal Savings Bank of China took Rmb330 million. Shenzhen Development Bank and Jiangsu Changjiang Commercial Bank held Rmb100 million and Rmb20 million apiece.

This is the first syndicated loan done by China Zheshang Bank. Proceeds are to support the Rmb1.1 billion Wuxi Xingguang Road Construction Project in Jiangsu Province, China.

South Korea

A $130 million offshore loan-style floating rate note for Korea Water Resources Corp was completed on a club basis on April 17 by BNP Paribas, Calyon and Standard Chartered Bank.

The leads provided $50 million apiece, except for Calyon which held a ticket of $30 million. The transaction is priced at 275bp over Libor and proceeds are for general corporate purposes.

Hong Kong

Yue Yuen Industrial Holding's $500 million-equivalent transferable dual-currency term loan was completed on a club basis on April 21 via a consortium of 14 mandated lead arrangers.

The three-year self-arranged club deal comprises a $371 million and a HK$1 billion portion priced at 165bp over Libor and Hibor respectively.

For the US dollar portion, Bank of China (Hong Kong), contributed $80 million, China Construction Bank (Hong Kong) $62 million, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (Hong Kong) $55 million, Hang Seng Bank $29 million and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch $25 million. These five banks were all coordinating arrangers.