Pertamina is Seeking an Amendment on Its $400 Million Loan
Banking sources told Basis Point that from July 2009 PT. Pertamina (Persero) seeks an amendment to reduce pricing and extend the tenor on its $400 million loan. In 2012, the original three-year facility matures the borrower is now seeking a five-year tenor from the amendment effective date and all-in pricing will be cut to 240bp from 418bp and the margin will be reduced from 338bp to 215bp over Libor. Citi was the coordinator and ANZ, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, CIMB Bank, Bank Central Asia,HSBC, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Natixis, OCBC, Panin Bank, BNP Paribas, the then Calyon, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Qatar National Bank also participated.
Pertamina chose to amend instead of coming out with a new refinancing because regulatory approval is required for a new deal, a source familiar with the deal told. The source added a refinancing would take much longer as a result and 15 banks on the 2009 loan have agreed to the amendment. The Amendment is being signed this week. Another source said the revised pricing is fairly in line with market pricing and the borrower is a “highly regarded customer”. Libor give the borrower a separate $700 million five-year term loan with a four-year average life that paid a top-level all-in of 312.5bp via a margin of 285bp over in June 2010.