America Movil Approached by Asian Lenders

America Movil is receiving interest from Asian and European lenders hoping to participate in the syndication process for its $4bn loan, Victor Mendez, corporate treasurer, tells LatinFinance. Mendez says the Mexican telecom company is seeing interest from lenders it had not worked with before. “New names are approaching us and are keen to know what further opportunities there are to work with America Movil,” he says. The syndication process is expected to close within the next two weeks, says Mendez, who says that bookrunners have already received some commitments and other banks looking to participate are meeting with their credit committees this week. The spread on the $2bn 3.5-year loan is 50bp over Libor, with a 15bp commitment fee. Up-front fees for commitments in retail syndication are 7.5bp for $50m commitments, 10bp for $100m, 12.5bp for $150m and 17.5bp for $250m, according to a banker with knowledge of the transaction. The spread on the $2bn EUR equivalent 5-year loan is 60bp over Euribor, with a 20bp commitment fee, according to bankers with knowledge of the transaction. Up-front fees are 12.5bp for EUR50m tickets, 17.5bp for EUR100m, 22.5bp for EUR150m and 27.5bp for EUR250m, say market participants. The bookrunners on the first tranche are Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, BBVA, Citi, Intesa and Mizuho. Bookrunners on the second tranche are Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Citi, Intesa, JPMorgan and Societe Generale. The banks have committed $400m each. HSBC is acting as lead arranger, but not as bookrunner. There is also a utilization fee of 15bp if America Movil draws down over 50% of the loan. Although participating bankers say the fees are tight, they are still willing to participate due to a lack of loans transactions in the market.