INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mumbai: MUFG and Rabo Bank have initiated a $3-billion financing programme for United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL) to fund its purchase of Arysta
LifeScience Inc, the largest outbound MA by an Indian company since the 2008 global financial meltdown
The issue to finance the buyout of the US-based crop protection services firm was launched Tuesday in Hong Kong and Singapore.
More than
two-dozen banks are in talks with the two underwriters, including Barclays, Citigroup, JP Morgan, BNP, ANZ and DBS, besides domestic lenders
such as SBI, ICICI, HDFC, Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter told ET
Individual banks could not be contacted immediately for comments.
The facility would have a five-year shelf life and would be priced after
adding a spread of about 150 basis points to the London Interbank Borrowing Rate (LIBOR), sources said.
The loans will be provided by
pledging the balance sheet of Arysta LifeScience
Shares of UPL will be provided as additional collateral.
In July, UPL signed a definitive agreement to buy Arysta LifeScience Inc, the
agrochemicals business of Platform Specialty Products Corp, for $4.2 billion in cash
through its subsidiary, UPL Corp, by taking a debt of $3 billion, while the balance equity stake will be equally funded by investments of
$600 million each by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and private equity firm TPG
MUFG, formerly Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, and Rabo Bank had committed to help fund the acquisition.
UPL Corporation raised $300 million
Nair, Daniel Jester and Vivek Agrawal said in a note on July 22
But they are permitted to fund outbound overseas deals
half of 2018, up 64 per cent compared to the same period in 2017, and the strongest year-to-date period since records began in 1980,
according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.
