Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson Land Development have boosted the size of their refinancing syndication loan for the International Finance Centre by almost 43 per cent, taking advantage of a loan market awash in liquidity, banking sources said.
The developers are seeking to borrow about HK$10 billion. Last month, they began to raise HK$7 billion to refinance the six-year HK$7 billion loan used to build the IFC complex.
The new loan, which is being arranged through special-purpose vehicle Central Waterfront Property Development, will also be a six-year deal.
It is priced at an all-in 33 basis points in fees, according to sources. Their original six-year loan, taken out in 2000 to partially fund the development of IFC Two and repay shareholders' loans for IFC One, cost 66 basis points in fees.
Central Waterfront is owned 50 per cent by SHKP, 34 per cent by Henderson and 16 per cent by Hong Kong and China Gas. The IFC loan is a project financing, meaning a loan that relies mainly on the project's cash flow for repayment.
A group of 10 international banks would take part in the loan, details of which were expected to be concluded by the end of this week, sources said. The sources added that at one stage, SHKP and Henderson had hoped to raise the loan to as much as HK$15 billion.