Univar announced that Univar and certain of its wholly-owned subsidiaries have entered into a new credit agreement with Bank of America, as U.S. administrative agent, Bank of America, acting through its Canada branch, as Canadian administrative agent.

The new credit agreement provides for a five-year senior secured asset- based lending credit facility in an aggregate amount of $1.3 billion, and a three-year senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $100 million. A portion of the proceeds of the term loan facility were used to prepay all of Univar’s outstanding loans under Univar’s existing credit agreement.

“With the proceeds of Univar’s IPO, together with the completion of our refinancing activities, we have extended our debt maturity profile by five years and, more importantly, significantly reduced our annual cash interest expenses,” said Univar president and CEO Erik Fyrwald.

“By decreasing our leverage, improving our capital structure, and increasing our cash flow, we now have a stronger balance sheet and additional financial flexibility to capitalize on our growth strategies.”

Downers Grove, IL-based Univar is a global distributor of specialty chemicals from more than 8,000 producers worldwide.