Bimbo Gets Cheaper Financing

Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo managed to get significantly tighter pricing on the $1.3bn loan it took out to refinance an existing loan, says a company official, reducing its interest rate to 3.9% from 5.7%, according to a company official. Bimbo refinanced the remaining portion of the $900m loan it used for the Weston takeover in 2009. The company decided to refinance the facility because pricing has become more attractive than when the loan was originally arranged, says a banker with knowledge of the transaction. The original loan expired in 2014, and will now mature in 2016. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BBVA, Citi, HSBC, ING and Santander were in the original transaction and acted as bookrunners, with Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi coming in as a new lender and bookrunner. Mizuho and JP Morgan came in as new lenders, and Barclays also took a ticket, as it did in the original transaction. The facility will be wholly dollar-denominated, whereas the original transaction was available in pesos or dollars.