The independent oil and gas company has lowered the margin from 315bp over Libor to 225bp, based on the amount drawn at the moment. The new terms allow the margin to move in a Libor plus 200bp to 250bp range depending on how much is drawn – with the tightest margin reserved for the lowest level of borrowing.
Lundin’s debt will still mature in 2022 with the deal remaining at the $5bn size it was before the renegotiation of terms.
Only one lender from the company’s banking group dropped out of the syndicate, with 27 of 28 banks agreeing to the new terms.
BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, DNB, Danske Bank, ING, Lloyds, Nordea, SEB, Scotiabank and Swedbank were bookrunners on the old facility.
ABN Amro, BMO Capital Markets, Crédit Agricole, JP Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Natixis, Nedbank Capital, UniCredit, Wells Fargo were the mandated lead arrangers.
ANZ, Goldman Sachs and Sparebank joined the deal at more junior levels.
Lundin said it was able to lean on “excellent operational performance” over recent years to convince its lenders to cut pricing.
The company reported Ebitda of $456.6m and operating cash flow of $461.8m for the first quarter of this year, up from the $355.8m and $365.9m reported, respectively, in the same period last year.
This year has seen a spate of amend and extend activities among Europe’s borrowers with many borrowers able to negotiate tighter margins on their debt.