RPL launches $1,500 mln offshore syndicated term loan

New Delhi, Aug 11 (UNI) Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has mandated a group of lead arrangers for the largest ever offshore syndicated term loan facility of 1,500 million dollars, launched today.

After a comprehensive due diligence, each of the 14 original mandated lead arrangers have obtained the necessary approvals for the facility.

The facility comprises of a 950 million dollars 7.5-year tranche and a 550 million dollars 10-year tranche with a blended average life of 6.6 years.

The 1,500 million dollar syndicated loan facility is the single largest limited recourse financing mandated in the Asian markets in recent years, excluding China.

Proceeds of the facility will be used to finance the company's project which includes a new 5,80,000 barrels per day refinery and a 0.9 million tonnes per annum polypropylene unit. The project will be located adjacent to RIL's existing refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat, a company statement said today.

After a successful Initial Public Offering by Reliance Petroleum in April 2006, this financing represents yet another milestone in achieving an early successful financial closure for the project.

The facility's door to door tenor of 10 years will open a new window for Indian corporates since the maturity profile for the offshore syndicated loans has been largely restricted to 5-7 years it added.

The Original Mandated Lead Arranger group will invite banks around the globe to participate in this landmark fund raising by the RPL. General syndication is expected to be closed in early October.

This deal also represents the re-opening of the limited recourse finance market in India after almost a decade which has not seen significant recent cross border participation by international banks.

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