LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) – Global commodities trading
company Glencore has asked its core relationship banks
to refinance a $12.8 billion revolving credit, originally signed
last April, to cover working capital requirements, banking
sources said.

The refinancing would be the second-biggest loan of the year
in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) after Russian oil
giant Rosneft’s $14.2 billion acquisition loan for
half of TNK-BP in February.

LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) – Spain has approached banks
about reviving a plan to raise a syndicated loan that was
originally earmarked to help finance an 18-billion-euro ($23.5
billion) aid fund for cash-strapped regions, bankers said.

Spanish and international banks have been asked for
proposals on a 1.5 billion euro, five-year loan by the end of
the week, the bankers said, as part of an exercise to discover
appetite and potential pricing for the deal.

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) – Syndicated lending in Europe,
the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) rose 13 percent to $185
billion in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the first three
months of 2012 as borrowers took advantage of banks’ renewed
appetite to lend.

The European syndicated loan market returned to health in
early 2013 with strong liquidity after aggressive deleveraging
in 2011 and 2012 boosted banks’ capital and helped them to
comply with new regulations.

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) – Telecom Italia has
successfully closed syndication of its 3 billion euro ($3.86
billion) forward start loan, which will extend part of an
existing syndicated loan when it matures in August 2014, the
company confirmed on Tuesday.

The self-arranged five-year financing launched in February
before the Italian elections but the ensuing political stalemate
does not seem to have affected the financing and it closed
significantly oversubscribed. The loan raised 4.1 billion euros
from the market from a group of 30 banks coordinated by Royal
Bank of Scotland and Banca IMI. The loan will not be increased
and banks will be scaled back, banking sources said.

LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) – Mining giant Anglo American
has signed a $5 billion, five-year loan refinancing via
a group of 28 banks, banking sources said on Wednesday.

The financing replaces an existing $3.5 billion credit
facility originally agreed in July 2010 and a $2 billion
facility for majority-owned diamond miner De Beers from Oct.
2011.

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) – The Bank of England warned that
around 73 billion pounds ($109 billion) of loans that financed a
boom in buyouts of British firms come due in the next five
years, posing risks of a drop in investment and a rise in
defaults.

“The amount and maturity profile of buyout debt could
present risks to UK financial stability,” the bank said in its
first-quarter bulletin on Thursday.

LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Competitive bidding by banks to
win limited loan mandates could prompt a refinancing wave as top
European companies take advantage of banks’ new-found
willingness to lend at low rates as lenders’ capital levels and
funding costs return to normal.

European banks, including Spanish, French and German
lenders, are trying to add or replace loan exposure after heavy
deleveraging in 2012.

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Italy’s biggest utility Enel
said on Monday that it has signed a 9.4 billion euro
($12.58 billion) forward start loan which will replace an
existing 10 billion euro syndicated loan when it matures in
April 2015.

Forward start loans allow borrowers to secure future
liquidity past the initial maturity date of financing without
the risk of an immediate decrease in facility amount.

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Telecom Italia SpA is in
talks with its banks over a 3 billion euros ($4 billion) loan
deal, banking sources said on Thursday, which could help protect
the company against possible future turbulence in debt markets.

The five-year forward-start loan will extend the maturity of
part of an existing 8 billion euro syndicated loan when it
matures in August 2014, the sources said.

LONDON (Reuters) – Rosneft’s (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) bankers have agreed to cut its cost for a $13 billion (8 billion pounds) acquisition loan, and the Russian oil company plans to sign the jumbo loan soon, three bankers close to the deal said.

The interest margin that Rosneft is paying for the loan has been cut by 10 basis points (bps).