Santos today announced it has executed a A$2 billion bilateral bank loan facility. This new facility will be used to refinance Santos’ existing A$700 million of undrawn bilateral bank facilities that mature between 2011 and 2013 and to increase liquidity.
Santos Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Peter Wasow said the refinancing of these facilities provides significant flexibility to fund Santos’ growth, including GLNG.
The facility was self-arranged and attracted total offers of A$2.9 billion from 13 banks. Offers from nine banks were accepted in arriving at the final facility size of A$2 billion with tenors ranging from four to seven years. The weighted average term of the new facility is five years.
“The strong support we received from existing and new lenders demonstrates the strength of the Santos business and financial profile,” Mr Wasow said.
“Importantly, this facility provides Santos with significant additional liquidity during the scheduled construction period of GLNG and PNG LNG and delivers average maturities beyond first LNG production from the two projects.”
With this new facility, Santos will have A$6 billion of available funding capacity, including cash and committed corporate and project debt facilities.
Santos has a long term rating of BBB+ from Standard and Poor’s.
