Noble Group launches $1 bllion loan facility, sources say

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Noble Group will have to fork out more than double in interest margin on a $1 billion unsecured loan it is raising with banks, as a fall out of the credit rating downgrade the commodity trader has faced, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The company has launched a 364-day revolving credit facility, which will pay an interest margin of 225 basis points over LIBOR compared with 85 basis points interest margin for last year's one-year $1.1 billion loan, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the information is not public.

The loan comes on top of a $2.5 billion secured financing that Noble is seeking in the United States from its lenders and will help it to partially repay its debt maturing in May.

 

Loss-making Noble has mandated eight banks including Societe Generale, MUFG, HSBC and DBS as lead arangers, the sources said.

Noble, HSBC and Societe General declined comment. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) and DBS had no immediate response.

(Reporting by Chien Mi Wong of LPC and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE; Editing by Denny Thomas and Himani Sarkar)