The Westfield Group has closed a US$4.0 billion global syndicated facility following successful syndication to a group of domestic and international banks, the largest ever in the Australian market.
The syndication, which was originally launched at US$2.5 billion, received overwhelming support from the banks invited resulting in a substantial oversubscription and upscaling of the facility amount. The facility is structured as a three and five year unsecured multicurrency facility with availability of drawing in the US and Australia.
A group of Westfield´s existing relationship banks together with new lenders have committed to the landmark facility enhancing Westfield´s depth of credit providers and providing significant flexibility for funding the Group´ s operations.
Details of the participating banks and their commitments follow below:
BANK AND COMMITMENT (US$ mln)
Mandated Lead Arranger & Bookrunners
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group: 225
Barclays Bank PLC: 225
Citibank, N.A.: 225
National Australia Bank: 225
Mandated Lead Arrangers
BNP Paribas: 225
ABN AMRO Bank NV: 150
Commonwealth Bank of Australia: 150
Credit Suisse First Boston: 150
Deutsche Bank AG: 150
Dresdner Bank AG: 150
JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A.: 150
Lloyds TSB Bank plc: 150
Merrill Lynch: 150
The Royal Bank of Scotland plc: 150
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: 150
Wachovia Bank National Association: 150
Westpac Banking Corporation: 150
BANK AND COMMITMENT (US$ mln)
o-Arrangers
Bank of America N.A.: 100
Bank of Nova Scotia Asia: 100
Bayerische Landesbank: 100
HSBC Bank Australia: 100
Morgan Stanley Bank: 100
Lead Managers
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi: 75
Societe Generale: 75
WestLB AG: 75
Senior Managers
Calyon Australia: 50
Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank AG: 50
Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg: 50
Mizuho Corporate Bank: 50
The Norinchukin Bank: 50
Managers
Bank of China Macau Branch: 25
Chang Hwa Commercial Bank: 25
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (Asia): 25
International & Commercial Bank of China: 25
GRAND TOTAL: 4,000
Westfield Group Chief Financial Officer Peter Allen said: 'This is a benchmark deal for Westfield which, following the recent success in the US bond market, demonstrates the benefits of the recent merger in enabling increased access to the international debt capital markets. We would like to extend our thanks to both existing relationship lenders and also welcome new relationship lenders who participated in the
transaction. The facility will be used to refinance existing debt and for general corporate purposes of the Group.'
Mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners, ANZ, Barclays Capital, Citigroup and National Australia Bank were extremely pleased with the strong result noting that the strong credit profile of the Westfield Group and its favourable outlook assisted in achieving the largest ever syndicated facility in the Australian market.
The Westfield Group is an internally managed, vertically integrated, shopping centre group undertaking ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management, property management, leasing and marketing activities and
employing in excess of 4,000 staff worldwide.
Westfield has investment interests in 126 shopping centers in four countries (US, Australia, New Zealand and UK), with a total value in excess of A$39.5 billion and is the largest retail property group in the world by equity market capitalisation.
Source: Westfield
