Miami-based World Fuel Services Corp. has increased its revolver by $50 million to $150 million and expanded its group of lenders. "It's a good time in the market and we were looking at our next year's business and growth," explained Frank Shea, cfo. LaSalle Bank is the lead on the credit after hooking up with World Fuel two years ago. At that time, World Fuel, which provides fuel and services to the aviation and marine industries, had a credit line with Bank of America, Shea noted.
Almost a year ago, LaSalle recommended the company move to a syndicated loan when it increased the line from $40 million to $100 million. "LaSalle, being a big global bank, has been a very good lead bank for us," Shea said. "They've done an excellent job for us. They understand our business. They were aggressive when they took over from B of A." Rick Lavina, senior v.p. with LaSalle, is the point person on the transaction. LaSalle, according to an amendment on the credit agreement, holds $55 million of the commitment.
An accordion feature of $25 million accounted for half of increase and the rest was new money. Three new lenders joined the eight-bank syndicate. LaSalle Bank, HSBC, Commerce Bank, Merrill Lynch, Israel Discount Bank of New York, J.P. Morgan, The International Bank of Miami and Union Planters Bank comprise the syndicate. Prior to joining the company, Shea worked as a banker at Chase Manhattan Bank for 30 years.
There were some small technical changes in addition to the increase in availability. Some precise definitions of negative covenant ratios were changed to give the company more room to use the money, Shea said.