Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has received a Ksh 50 Billion US$500Mn syndicated long term loan facility arranged by Standard Chartered to help pay up its debt debt obligations.
The financing is made up of a 10-year, Ksh 35 Bn(US$350mn) term loan with a Ksh 20Bn (US$200mn) guarantee from the World Bank’s International Development Association, and a seven-year, KES15.18bn facility. Both have a two-year grace period followed by equal semi-annual repayments.
Standard Chartered acted as sole co-ordinator, bookrunner and initial mandated lead arranger.
“The proceeds of the facilities will be applied towards refinancing KPLC’s existing commercial loan facilities in order to achieve the following goals for KPLC: reduce total financing costs; extend maturities beyond existing terms; improve liquidity position, harmonise documentation (including financial undertakings) and further improve KPLC’s ability to fund future capital expenditure through internal sources,” a joint statement from KPLC and Standard Chartered says.
According to the bank, the transaction attracted a wide range of lenders in syndication, with total commitments in excess of Ksh 47Bn (US$470mn) for the US dollar tranche and KES36bn for the Kenya shilling tranche.
Source; www.gtreview.com
