London-listed BHP Billiton is pursuing a bid to take over Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.
The five underwriters — Banco Santander, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, JP Morgan and Royal Bank of Scotland — had stumped up $8,4 billion each, while TD Securities made a $3 billion take-and-hold commitment.
Joining the facilities as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners were ANZ Banking Group; Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ; Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; Commonwealth Bank of Australia; Credit Agricole CIB; ING Bank; Intesa Sanpaolo; Lloyds TSB Bank; Mediobanca; Mizuho Corporate Bank; National Australia Bank; Scotia Capital; Societe Generale; Standard Chartered Bank; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation; UBS Investment Bank; UniCredit Bank; and Westpac Institutional Bank.
See http://miningweekly.com/article/bhp-signs-jumbo-45-bln-potash-bid-loan-2010-09-17.
For background to concerns about this purchase because of Potash Corp’s involvement in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-Update/message/2178.