19 Feb 1999

Swire raises loan facility amount following strong response from banks

Swire Finance Limited is pleased to announce that its HK$2 billion term loan syndication, launched in January, has been raised to HK$2.85 billion. The increase is due to oversubscription from the Arrangers' Group, made up of 10 banks invited by Swire Finance to participate in the transaction.

The Facility will be used to finance the general corporate funding requirements of Swire Pacific and its group of companies. It has a maturity of three years.

Commenting on the response to the transaction, Mr Michael Bell, Finance Director of Swire Pacific, said, "We are delighted by the strong support from our key relationship banks in the Arrangers Group. Though we have received enquiries from other banks who wished to participate in general syndication, after due consideration, we have decided not to launch general syndication and close the Facility at this stage."

The 10 banks in the Arrangers' Group comprise:

Arrangers and Lead Managers

ABN AMRO Bank, N.V.
Credit Agricole Indosuez
Den Danske Bank, Hong Kong Branch
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
Hang Seng Bank Limited
Rabobank Hong Kong Branch
Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale
Banque Nationale de Paris, Hong Kong Branch
Citibank, N.A., Hong Kong Branch
The Sanwa Bank, Limited, Hong Kong Branch