Nordea Bank Finland seized the lead from Bank One for a $225 million refinancing deal for Houston-based offshore drilling company Atwood Oceanics after Bank One would not cough up the tighter pricing and longer tenor that the company wanted on the credit. "[Nordea] gave us a better offer, plain and simple," said James Holland, executive v.p., cfo and secretary. "[Bank One] couldn't go more than three years," he added. The present deal, which is fully underwritten with Credit Agricole Indosuez Capital, Fortis Capital and Hamburgische Landesbank, includes a five-year, $150 million term loan and a five-year, $75 million revolver. Holland noted that Bank One's business policy did not allow it to handle the maturity and pricing that the company was demanding. Bank One is not involved in the new deal. Bankers from Bank One and Hamburgische could not be reached by press time, while officials from Nordea, Credit Agricole and Fortis declined to comment.
Syndication of the credit launched last Thursday with pricing at LIBOR plus 11/2-21/2%, based on a grid tied to leverage. Holland said the company's present multiples of four times placed the rate at LIBOR plus 21/4%. The credit is replacing the previous Bank One deal for $175 million, priced in the LIBOR plus 2-31/2% range. Holland said the new credit is targeted to close by May 15 with eight to nine more lenders most likely signing on. He added that previous Atwood lender--Whitney National Bank-- will probably join the syndicate.