AirTrunk puts finishing touches on year’s biggest loan deal
Data centre business AirTrunk and its big-bank syndicate are poised to rule off the whopper $4.76 billion sustainability-linked loan launched in mid-June.
It is understood the seven banks are working through allocations, and would reach financial close with lenders next week. They found enough demand – sources suggested the deal was almost two-times oversubscribed – for the $4.76 billion ask, with pricing coming in at around 300 basis points above the respective benchmarks.
Robin Khuda started AirTrunk in 2015…
The Australian dollar tranche, for example, is expected to price at 305 basis points above the bank bill swap bid rate (BBSY) for the three-year tenor. AirTrunk would pay a spread of 320 basis points for the five-year piece, followed by 350 basis points margin for the seven-year maturity. That equated to 7 per cent-plus interest rate.
The transaction is the biggest loan deal in Australia this year, and serves as a temperature check on the appetite of big banks and institutional investors. It’s also league table credits for the banks that scored roles as underwriters and bookrunners: Crédit Agricole, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, ING, Morgan Stanley and MUFG.
The AirTrunk transaction is tailed by the takeover financing of Origin Energy’s $18.4 billion take-private, which is yet to be consummated.
AirTrunk’s latest capital markets trip included refinancing of $3.5 billion worth of existing corporate loans. It came three months after it locked in an equity injection from shareholders, Macquarie Asset Management and Canada’s PSP Investments, in conjunction with a $650 million loan underwritten by Deutsche Bank, Crédit Agricole and MUFG Bank.
The business was founded eight years ago by Robin Khuda, who formerly
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