BASIS POINT-Macquarie seeks 6-month A$1.6bn loan extension

SYDNEY, April 24 (Reuters Basis Point) - Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG.AX) is talking to banks about extending a A$1.6 billion ($1.5 billion) 364-day revolving loan by six months until May 2009 for a 50 basis point fee, sources said.

Most of the facility's 45 lenders are expected to roll over their existing commitments because of the attractive fee and the short time-frame of the extension.

The deal's 11 mandated lead arrangers are: ABN AMRO Bank AAH.AS, ANZ (ANZ.AX), Barclays Capital (BARC.L), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX), Dresdner Bank (ALVG.DE), HSBC, JP Morgan (JPM.N), Merrill Lynch MER.N, nabCapital (NAB.AX), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX).

The credit currently pays 35 basis points over BBSY based on the borrower's A- and A2 ratings from Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service, respectively.

The financing is part of a A$9 billion seven-tranche loan the borrower took last November to capitalise itself when it was established as a listed non-operating holding company to own the investment banking businesses and non-banking activities of Macquarie Bank Ltd.

Under the restructuring, Macquarie Bank became a wholly owned subsidiary of Macquarie Group and has continued to operate as a licensed Australian bank. (Reporting by Sharon Klyne)