Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (facility agent) and UBS Warburg (bookrunner) launched the syndication yesterday (Thursday) of the $4.3bn of loan facilities supporting the $17.6bn acquisition of De Beers, the world's best known and largest diamond producer, by DB Investments. The $4.3bn of debt is structured into two tranches. Tranche 'A' is a $3.3bn five year amortising term loan, while tranche 'B' is a $1bn five year revolving credit. Both tranches pay an initial margin of 100bp over Libor, and through the life of the loan margins ratchet according to net debt to Ebitda.
March 30, 2001