Lead arrangers Bank of New York and Bank of America are set to wrap syndication of a $300 million unsecured revolving credit facility for Southwest Gas. The five-year revolver, which is anticipated to close Wednesday, replaces an existing $250 million, three-year facility inked last May, said a banker following the deal. Calls to George Biehl, cfo at the natural gas utility in Las Vegas, were not returned.
The new line has an unused fee of 15 basis points over LIBOR and a spread of LIBOR plus 62 1/2 for first drawn and a utilization fee of 1/8, compared to the old facility which had a 20 basis points undrawn fee, a 15 basis point utilization fee and a 7/8 first drawn fee. According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, about $150 million of the original line was earmarked for general corporate purposes while the remainder was pegged for short-term funding.
J.P. Morgan, Key Bank and Union Bank of California acted as documentation agents on the deal. Bank allocations could not be determined. Other banks involved in the syndication include KBC, US Bank and Mellon Bank.