Odebrecht to Land Jumbo Project Loan

Brazil’s Odebrecht, which has spent a good part of the year haggling with lenders over pricing on a $1.3bn project loan, is making a dash for the finish line on the financing, and is even heard to have achieved $150m oversubscription. The transaction – which will not be upsized – is 80% funded with debt from commercial and development banks. It is being raised for the construction and operation of 2 twin deepwater drilling platforms for Petrobras. After a necessary 40bp flex on pricing, which left the 10-year deal starting at 340bp over Libor and rising to 415bp in year 10, lenders acquiesced and the commitment process gained some momentum. Holding tickets of $100m or more are Santander, SocGen, BNP, Calyon, BES and HSBC. Banco do Brasil (BdB) is expected to join this week, also with a $100m commitment. Fees for tickets of $100m and up stand around 275bp, with the average fee for the whole facility in the 250bp area. Portugal’s Caixa Geral de Depositos, France’s CIC, Norway’s NIBC, as well as ING, HSBC and WestLB also joined with tickets of $50m and $75m, says an executive on the transaction. A financial close is targeted for July 31, though delays that have characterized most every live transaction could push that into August. The approximately $900m commercial portion is a 10 year, while the remaining ECA funding is for 12 years. Giek, the Norway-based ECA, provided alongside compatriot Export Finance, $270m in direct funding. Korea’s Kexim came in with $155m in direct funding and $145m in guarantees, says an executive on it. Odebrecht is providing $300m in equity financing on the deal.