Sime Darby Plantation gets better terms for refinanced loans
Published on 30 Jan 2020. | Source: thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Plantation Bhd said it has completed the refinancing of credit facilities worth RM3.9bil in December on marginally improved terms.
The financing facilities secured by the group in December consist of foreign currency term loans of US$830mil and a RM500mil term loan.
“This refinancing exercise has not only resulted in a lower cost of debt for us, but it has also improved the debt maturities and increased SDP’s financial flexibility to manage our operations and finances," group managing director Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha said in a statement today.
"We are now in a better position to devote our management efforts towards enhancing operational efficiencies and reducing costs, while we continue to focus on executing our asset monetization plans," he added.
In line with the group’s aspiration to refinance its existing facilities with Islamic financing, approximately 81% of the facilities were secured via Shariah compliant instruments in this recent refinancing exercise.
The refinancing exercise was undertaken to review SDP group’s loan portfolio and to balance its debt maturity profile to be in line with cash flow expectations while taking advantage of attractive market rates.
The exercise involved refinancing of SDP’s existing term loans which are due for repayment in June 2020, restructuring and replacing some of the existing facilities with better pricing as well as converting some of the group’s working capital facilities to term loans.
"The exercise did not result in any increase in the group’s gearing," it said.
The group’s borrowing as of Sept 30, 2019 stood at approximately RM7.9bil (excluding perpetual sukuk of RM2.2bil).
"Upon the realization of our deleveraging plans, we hope to reduce the group’s gross gearing ratio from 49% as of Sept 30 to approximately 30% within the next three years,” said Helmy.
Directory Advertisement:
