Allens acts for Wesfarmers on significant refinancing
6 March 2009
Allens Arthur Robinson (Allens) has acted on a first for the Asia Pacific in helping Wesfarmers Limited obtain a forward debt extension totalling $4.1 billion in its syndicated facility and a large number of bilaterals.
In October 2007, Wesfarmers had entered into a syndicated facility agreement which saw them borrow A$10 billion to finance, among other things, the purchase of Coles Group Limited. The term facility of that financing was due to mature in October 2010.
Wesfarmers wished to extend the maturity. In normal times this would have meant a simple refinancing, but in today's market that would not have been possible.
The Wesfarmers proposal addressed its key objectives of keeping its existing financing in place whilst also getting as many banks as possible to agree to extend on the maturity of the current financing.
The recent deal resulted in the majority of Wesfarmers' banks agreeing to extend the maturity to December 2011 and 2012.
The team at Allens, headed up by Partner Diccon Loxton, advised Wesfarmers on its approach to the banks and ultimately documenting the forward start agreement, as well as the extension of its commitments under bilateral facilities.
Put simply, the forward start approach allows a borrower to extend the maturity of the financing, while still leaving the existing financing in place so that if not all financiers agree, it can still extend.
According to Mr Loxton: 'This transaction was novel in its approach, and now it is being considered in relation to a number of borrowers in the market.
'It was, as always, a great pleasure to work alongside the talented team at Wesfarmers in such a novel and challenging way in such a difficult market,' added Mr Loxton.
Allens has advised Wesfarmers in its recent major corporate activities including its purchase of Coles and subsequent equity raisings, as well as its finance activities both in syndicated lending and debt capital markets.
Wesfarmers is one of Australia's largest public companies and is Australia's largest retailer, operating retail outlets such as Coles, Liquorland, Target and Kmart.
| Allens legal team | Diccon Loxton (Partner – Sydney), Simran Sandhu (Senior Associate – Sydney), Caleb Chua (Overseas Practitioner – Sydney) |
Ends
For further information, please contact:
- Jane FoleyCorporate Communications Coordinator,
Melbourne
Ph: +61 3 9613 8503
Jane.Foley@aar.com.au
Notes for editors.
Allens Arthur Robinson has staff in 14 cities and eight countries across the Asia Pacific.
