Colombia’s Ministry of Finance and Public Credit authorized Ecopetrol to enter into an external credit loan with international banks for up to $4 billion. The funds from the loans will be used to finance the acquisition of 569,472,561 shares of Interconexión Eléctrica (ISA), which is equivalent to 51.4% of outstanding and represents 100% of the stake that the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit has in ISA.
The lenders under the credit facility are Banco Santander, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia, each with a 25% participation.
The main considerations on the loan are:
- Payment of 100% of capital at maturity within a two-year maturity from the loan signing date
- An interest rate of three-month LIBOR plus 80 basis points
- An additional upfront fee of 30 basis points.
Ecopetrol is an integrated oil and gas conglomerate in Latin America with more than 13,000 employees.