SES is understood to be seeking to adjust the terms on its ?2bn revolving credit facility in order to take advantage of more favourable loan market conditions.
According to one debt banker familiar with the deal, the satellite operator is holding talks…
SES is understood to be seeking to adjust the terms on its ?2bn revolving credit facility in order to take advantage of more favourable loan market conditions.
According to one debt banker familiar with the deal, the satellite operator is holding talks with the banks that arranged the three-year revolver back in April 2009, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas and Fortis, about re-pricing the margins.
A syndicate of 23 banks participated in the ?2bn facility that was arranged when the loan market environment was in a far more parlous state than it currently is. Indeed, at the time one source commented: “Big corporates are realising that it will be a while before the market properly opens back up so it is a case of taking the opportunity to secure whatever funds are available to you.” The banker said that pricing for similar investment grade companies at the moment is between 50 and 75 basis points less than a year ago.
The margin and the amount on the SES revolver vary from year-to-year with ?2bn available at 235bp over Euribor in year one, ?1.75bn at 250bp over Euribor in year two, and ?1bn at 275bp over Euribor in year three.
SES is rated BBB by Standard and Poor’s and Baa2 by
Moody’s.
