John Swire & Sons Limited has refinanced and increased its debt facilities, signing a new £550 million credit line syndicated amongst a group of eleven banks. The club loan includes banks from Europe, Singapore and Japan that are extending credit facilities to John Swire & Sons Limited for the first time, as well as several banks with whom JS&S has longstanding relationships.
In addition to securing facilities to support its future financing needs, the company took the opportunity to build sustainability and diversity targets into the agreement. If these targets are exceeded, there will be a modest reduction in the margin charged by the banks.
Three Key Performance Indicators have been established, reflecting the areas where the group is focusing its sustainability initiatives. These are: ongoing energy reductions in United States Cold Storage's business, cuts in CO2 emissions by the China Navigation Company fleet, and an increase in female representation in management positions at Finlays. All of these are material and important to Swire, and to the wider community.
The transaction is the Swire group's first 'green' financing deal outside Hong Kong and was achieved by close collaboration between the finance team in London and the Sustainable Development Office in Hong Kong, with ANZ Bank, one of Swire's long-term relationship banks, providing further expertise as Sustainability Co-Ordinator.
