BBGI secures new £230m revolving credit facility

(Sharecast News) - Infrastructure investment company BBGI Global Infrastructure has secured a new committed multicurrency revolving credit facility of £230m, it announced on Tuesday, from ING Bank, DZ Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank and SMBC Bank.
The FTSE 250 company said the facility would replace the current £180m facility with ING, DZ, and KfW, which started in January 2018 and matures in January 2022.

It said the new facility would have a tenor of five years, starting in May, with a borrowing margin 165 basis points over the relevant reference rate.

Under the new revolving credit facility, BBGI said it would have increased flexibility to consider larger transactions by virtue of having structured a further uncommitted £70m incremental accordion tranche, for which no commitment fees would be paid.

The multi-currency facility would be used primarily to fund acquisitions and provide letters of credit for investment obligations, and the intention would be to repay the facility from time to time through equity fundraisings.

"The new revolving credit facility helps to ensure BBGI has the ability to complete large portfolio transactions or acquisitions from multiple vendors in short order as and when they become available," said co-chief executive officer Frank Schramm.

"We continue to be excited about the growth opportunities available to BBGI over the coming years and this new facility will support the continued development of the business."

Co-CEO Duncan Ball added that increasing the tenor of the new facility to five years from four, and expanding the lending group, underlined the "strength of support" for BBGI and its future growth strategy, as well as the "robust fundamentals" of its focus on low-risk, availability-based infrastructure investments.

"We have also contributed to lower costs by virtue of having structured an additional £70m incremental accordion tranche for which no commitment fees are payable.

"Both the multi-currency facility and the accordion facility allow BBGI to borrow in the currency of the underlying assets or in sterling."

At 0811 BST, shares in BBGI Global Infrastructure were up 0.57% at 176p.