HK PCCW HK$5B 6-Yr Loan Arranging Group Completed - HSBC
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
HONG KONG -- Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd.'s (PCW) planned HK$5 billion six-year loan is getting closer to conclusion, as the coordinating arranger group has been completed, a banker at HSBC said Thursday.
Nine banks have agreed to arrange the loan at a price of 55 basis points over the Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate, said HSBC's Eleanor Li, head of loan distribution, debt market group, Asia Pacific. The terms are the same as were initially indicated.
HSBC was the coordinator that was putting this group together and Li said the agreement with the nine banks will be signed later Thursday.
The loan will be taken up by PCCW's wholly-owned fixed-line unit PCCW-HKT Telephone Ltd. and will be used for the repayment of the US$2.3 billion five-year tranche of a US$4.7 syndicated loan arranged for that unit in February 2001, she said.
PCCW has already refinanced US$300 million of this tranche that has an interest rate of 115 basis points above the London Interbank Offered Rate. That leaves US$2 billion outstanding as of the end of 2001. The company has also repaid US$500 million of the US$1.5 billion three-year tranche of the loan from cash resources and refinanced the rest.
The US$4.7 billion syndicated loan also has a US$900 million seven-year tranche carrying an interest rate of 145 basis points above LIBOR.
HSBC was a lead arranger for this previous loan, along with Barclays Capital Asia Ltd., BOCI Capital Ltd., JP Morgan, and FUJI (Mizuho Financial Group).
The new US$5 billion loan will now be put to general syndication, which will take around three weeks, HSBC's Li said.
PCCW is a Hong Kong-based integrated telecommunications company.
-By Anette Jonsson, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; anette.jonsson@dowjones.com
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Updated March 7, 2002 3:31 a.m. EST
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