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$150m long-term debt raising complete
One firm has advised Westpac, AustralianSuper and IFM Investors on their latest multimillion-dollar long-term debt raising.
Emma Musgrave
Firms: Herbert Smith Freehills (Westpac, AustralianSuper and IFM Investors); Arnold Bloch Leibler (Visy Industries)
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Deal: Westpac, AustralianSuper and IFM Investors have been advised on a long-term debt raising for Visy Industries.
Value: $150 million
Area: Finance
Key players: The legal team advising Westpac, AustralianSuper and IFM Investors was led by Herbert Smith Freehills partner Andrew Booth, who was supported by senior associate Josie Essery.
Deal significance: According to a statement from Herbert Smith Freehills, this transaction sees Westpac arrange the lending of money by the super funds to Visy over 10 years, where it will be used to refinance existing senior debt.
The transaction comes as liquidity from institutional lenders increases, according to the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association.
“Liquidity from institutional lenders has been a steadily increasing feature of loan markets. Five years ago institutional lenders represented less than 1% of primary syndicated liquidity, growing to around 5 per cent in 2016. However, this volume is significantly larger once bilateral and secondary volumes are taken in to account,” APLMA chair Michael Isaacs said.
“As the peak syndicated loan body in Australia, APLMA has actively sought to engage with these investors to foster their participation in primary and secondary loan markets in Australia, developing a deeper liquidity pool for borrowers.”
In addition, Mr Isaacs said the APLMA Documentation Committee was uniquely placed to incorporate the requirements of institution lenders into the association’s widely utilised standard form documentation.
“Member law firms, such as Herbert Smith Freehills, are active contributors to the committee and are able to utilise their experience on both the borrower and lender side to develop the documentation framework to facilitate institutional participation in the market,” he said.
Herbert Smith Freehills partner Andrew Booth said the firm is pleased to assist Westpac, AustralianSuper and IFM Investors on this transaction.
“We are very pleased to assist Westpac, AustralianSuper and IFM Investors on this deal and achieve a successful outcome for all parties,” Mr Booth said.
“Visy was able to diversify its pool of lenders, while the funds were able to add another blue chip client to their investments.”
