Brazilian Regular Back for More Cash

Brazilian petrochemicals producer Braskem is kicking off the yearly post-Labor Day debt bonanza with a new facility, set to be unveiled Wednesday, at a bank meeting in Sao Paulo. LatAm’s largest company in the sector is targeting $500m in 5-year pre-export funds that will be used to extend a $1.2bn bridge it took out with ABN AMRO, Citi and Calyon last year to acquire competitors Ipiranga and Copesul, say people close to the deal. That facility steps up from 35bp over Libor to 55bp in the second year of drawdown. The new loan will offer Libor plus 175bp – the tight end of a 175bp-200bp range the company said earlier this year it would seek for this final step of the takeout. Braskem took out part of the bridge in late May with a $500m 2018 bond priced to yield 7.375%. The deal, rated BB+/Ba1, was upsized from a $400m launch size and led by ABN, Calyon and Citi. The new loan is being led by Calyon, Citi and Banco Real, formerly belonging to ABN AMRO and now part of Santander, which inherited the transaction through its acquisition of part of the Dutch bank. A second bank meeting will be held Friday in New York.