Bumitama Agri seals $357m debt deal with six regional banks

The funds will be used to refinance existing loans.

Bumitama Agri yesterday declared that it had secured new debt facilities with DBS, UOB, OCBC, , Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Maybank Berhad and CIMB Bank.

The combined committed and uncommitted facilities are worth an aggregate principal amount of $357m (US$265m). The purpose of the loan is to fund general corporate and working capital requirements; as well as to refinance existing debts.

Notably, the deals have a “change of ocntrol” covenant, under which the banks may revoke the relevant facilities and cause all outstanding amounts to become immediately due and payable.

According to DBS, the new facilities have no significant impact on BAL’s net gearing, which currently stands at 32.6%.

“We are maintaining our forecasts for now, pending management guidance. We continue to recommend BAL as our top pick in Singapore, given 29% potential upside to our target price. We believe any near-term weakness should be viewed as an opportunity to collect the counter,” stated DBS.