Syngenta Group (HK) Holdings Company Limited, as the borrower, signed the syndicated loan financing documents with a syndicate consisting of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank Hong Kong Branch and other financial institutions. The syndicate provided a sustainability-linked syndicated loan (including an initial credit facility and an additional credit facility) of up to USD 4.5 billion to Syngenta Group (HK) Holdings Company Limited, and Syngenta Group Co., Ltd. as the guarantor provided the loan’s cross-border guarantee. According to Refinitiv, this was the largest syndicated loan completed in China’s lending market since the beginning of 2022.
A sustainability-linked loan is a lending instrument that incentivizes the borrower to achieve the agreed sustainability performance targets. It links the financing price to the borrower’s own sustainability performance, and the lending bank will give a certain price discount if the pre-agreed sustainability targets are met during the borrower’s existence. In recent years, Chinese enterprises have continued to contract sustainability-linked and ESG-related loans, which can enhance the enterprises’ brand image of sustainability and save costs. Sustainability-linked loans match the sustainability preferences of financial institutions, seize a comparatively advantageous position in the financing market, and save costs by using a flexible financing structure.
JunHe acted as the PRC legal counsel to the syndicate in this project. They advised on legal issues such as the borrowing of foreign debt by an overseas subsidiary controlled by a Chinese enterprise and a domestic company providing a cross-border guarantee for a foreign loan. JunHe’s team advised on structuring arrangements for the financing transaction, drafted and finalized the financing documents, and advised on the relevant PRC and Hong Kong legal issues and customary issues related to international syndicated loans. With its banking and financial team’s vast experience in cross-border financing and foreign exchange legal issues, JunHe provided strong support for the company to complete the application for foreign debt and the cross-border guarantee for the foreign debt.
Partner LU, Juyi led this project.
