KUALA LUMPUR: Malakoff Corp Bhd’s Australian subsidiary Wind Macarthur Finco Pty ltd (WMFPL) has entered into a syndicated facility agreement for a term loan facility of about AUD$502 million (RM1.49 billion) to refinance its existing loan.
In an exchange filing, Malakoff said the syndicate of lenders include ING Bank (Australia) Ltd, Societe Generale, Singapore Branch, Mizuho Bank Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd, BNP Paribas Sydney Branch and Blackrock Real Assets.
The company said the tenure of the facility is for a period of seven years.
The facility is secured on a non-recourse basis over, amongst others, the mortgage of shares, mortgage of land, mortgage of lease, fixed and floating charge of the assets and the assignment of rights over the project documents, Malakoff filing said.
The independent water and power producer said the refinancing was completed today by drawing down the facility and utilising the entire fund for the repayment of all outstanding amounts.
The payments including fees and related expenses, under the existing term loan facility which was procured in 2013 to refinance the then project loan for the Macarthur Wind Farm.
The refinancing is in relation to the company’s 50 per cent indirect participating interest in the unincorporated joint venture of the Macarthur Wind Farm through Malakoff Wind Macarthur Pty Ltd (MWMP).
MWMP is a wholly-owned unit of Malakoff International Ltd, the Australian wholly-owned subsidiary of Malakoff Corp Bhd.
Malakoff noted that Macarthur Wind Farm was acquired by the company in 2013 from Meridian Energy Ltd’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, Three River Holdings No. 2 Ltd and Meridian Energy Australia Pty Ltd.
The refinancing is not expected to have any material impact on the earnings and net assets of the Malakoff Group for the financial year ending December 31, 2018, the filing noted.
The company said the refinancing will result in a reduction in interest expense to the Group through WMFPL due to the more favourable effective interest rate obtained for the facility.
However, it said the refinancing is not expected to change the gearing level of the group.