Nestle SA Signs $8.5 Billion Bridge Loan For Pfizer, Inc.'s Infant Nutrition Business Buy-Reuters

Reuters reported that Nestle SA has signed a $8.5 billion syndicated bridge loan to back its $11.85 billion takeover of Pfizer, Inc.'s infant nutrition business. The 364-day loan, which was increased from $7.4 billion after an oversubscription, pays a margin of 20 basis points (bps) over Libor and undrawn commitments on the deal pay 1 bp. The loan is expected to be refinanced in the bond market within 12 months. The bridge facility will give Nestle enough liquidity until the acquisition is approved in the first quarter of 2013 to time the launch of its bonds for best execution. The loan pays utilisation fees of 10 bps for drawings up to one third, 15 bps for drawings of one third to up to two thirds and 30 bps for drawings of two thirds and over. Banks acting as bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers were Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Banco Santander, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale and UBS.