Codelco Reworks Mitsui Funding

Codelco has agreed to refinance terms on a loan with Mitsui, reducing its debt with the Japanese conglomerate by granting it the option to buy an additional 15.25% in their mining joint venture for $998m. In the deal, the Chilean miner’s loan has been reduced to $875m and extended to 20 years with a 3.25% interest rate. The original loan, agreed last year to help fund the purchase of a 24.5% stake in the Anglo American Sur project, was a 7.5-year facility paying Libor+2.5%. The purchase was resolved only in August of this year, following a court battle with Anglo American, who now holds a 50.1% stake in Anglo American Sur, and contested Codelco’s exercising of a decades-old purchase option.