Oando extends availability on $450 mln loan

Tinubu, Oando chief

Nigerian oil and gas company,  Oando Plc has confirmed that it has extended the availability period on its $450 million senior secured reserve based lending facility to May 31, 2014 from March 31.
The loan backs the acquisition of ConocoPhillips' Nigerian upstream oil and gas business.
The $450 million RBL facility was arranged by a group of Nigerian and international banks including Standard Chartered Bank, BNP Paribas and The Standard Bank of South Africa, with Standard Chartered Bank acting as facility agent and security agent.
The loan, which is guaranteed by Oando Energy Resources, matures on June 30, 2019 and pays a margin of 850 basis points over LIBOR.
The acquisition is also backed with a $350 million corporate facility arranged by a syndicate of local Nigerian lenders.
FBN Capital and FCMB Capital Markets were mandated lead arrangers on that loan, with FBN Capital acting as facility agent and financial modelling bank.
FCMB Capital Markets acted as technical bank and First Trustees Nigeria as security trustee.
The amortising loan pays a margin of 950 basis points (bps) over LIBOR for the first 57 months and 1050 bps thereafter until the final maturity date at 72 months. Payments will be made quarterly from the date of first drawdown until maturity.
The loan is secured against certain subsidiaries and affiliates of the company and will be used partially to fund the acquisition of ConocoPhillips, with the remainder to be used to refinance other existing debt within the Oando Energy Resources group.