Ford extended $15.5 billion in revolving credit lines, which now include metrics that further align with the company’s sustainability priorities as part of its Ford+ plan for growth and value creation.
The arrangement comprises extensions of three revolving credit lines: a five-year, $10.1 billion facility maturing in September 2026, along with a three-year, $3.4 billion facility and a three-year, $2 billion supplemental facility, both maturing in September 2024.
Ford partnered with Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank to lead the development of the sustainability-linked facilities, which are supported by a lender group composed of 60 banks, led by JPMorgan Chase Bank, which served as the administrative agent and lead bookrunner. The relationship bank group was expanded to include Black-, Hispanic-, women- and military veteran-owned financial institutions.
“Ford people recognize that what’s good for the planet is good for business,” Dave Webb, treasurer at Ford, said. “We’re all accountable for creating a constantly safer and cleaner organization that sets an example for sustainability.”
Sustainability-linked performance metrics reflecting Ford’s actions toward fighting climate change include:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the company’s manufacturing plants in line with the Paris Climate Agreement’s long-term temperature goal of limiting global warming and a 1.5-degree Celsius path
- Increasing the percentage of renewable electricity consumed in Ford’s global manufacturing plants en route to a goal of 100% by 2035
- Lowering Ford of Europe’s CO2 tailpipe emissions per passenger vehicle consistent with both the European Commission’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol standard — a “Scope 3” measure — and Ford’s carbon neutrality goal
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Performance against defined annual targets for ESG performance could result in lower or higher costs of the facilities.
Also, starting with this year’s extension, Ford is transitioning away from LIBOR by pricing its revolving credit facilities directly off of the daily SOFR for corporate borrowings. SOFR is the LIBOR replacement rate preferred by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, or ARRC, a group of private-market participants convened by the Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
