Maersk finalises US$6.75 billion credit facility

AP MOLLER MAERSK, which owns the world`s largest container shipping line, has announced the completion of a US$6.75 billion syndicated revolving credit facility with a group of 20 banks.

According to a statement from Maersk, the company arranged the facility to refinance a $6.5 billion debt maturing in 2012 with 28 banks.


The Danish shipping giant said that the refinancing has "proactively addressed" the upcoming refinancing in 2012 by taking advantage of a combination of lower financial costs and a favourable global bank loan market.


"We are very pleased with the terms and structure in our new facility and the process with the banks participating. Our banking group is consolidated, the maturity profile of our finance commitments extended and cost related to the facility reduced. We received strong support from our global relationship banks that have all supported the transaction," said Maersk finance and risk management chief Jan Kjaervik.


The facility has a maturity of five years and will reportedly be used for "general corporate purposes".


Lead arrangers for the facility include, Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas, Citibank, Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, HSBC, JP Morgan, Nordea and Royal Bank of Scotland acted as Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners in the transaction and Barclays, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, DnB NOR, ING Bank, Santander, SEB, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered.