Valiant Petroleum plc to announce that it has completed the refinancing of its existing senior and subordinated debt facilities into a five-year, US$335 million Senior Secured Borrowing Base Facility (the “Facility”) after receiving credit approved commitments in excess of US$400 million.
The transaction was led by BNP Paribas and Lloyds Banking Group and included a group of seven additional international banks acting as Mandated Lead Arrangers.
The Facility is a traditional North Sea borrowing base financing secured against the Company’s interests in the producing Don Southwest (Valiant; 40.0%) and West Don (Valiant; 17.275%) fields and has provisions for accessing finance against other development and producing assets subject to certain conditions precedent. There is also pre-approval to extend the total facility limit up to $400 million on existing terms subject to obtaining additional credit commitments from existing or new lenders. The initial available amount under the borrowing base has been set at $184 million and will next be redetermined in June 2011.
Mark Lewis, Chief Financial Officer, commented:
“We are extremely pleased to have completed our refinancing on competitive terms despite continued macro challenges in the international banking markets. The new facility will give us access to additional development capital and strategic flexibility over the coming years in support of our long-term growth targets. We now have a strong and appropriate group of banks and we look forward to working with them as strategic partners to support the growth of our business in the coming years.”
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Source:Valiant Petroleum, December 17, 2010;