On the 5 May 2016, Newcrest announced it had signed agreements to extend the term of its unsecured bilateral bank lending facilities on improved terms and conditions
As well as extending the maturity, Newcrest reduced the size of the committed bank facility by US$750m to US$2.40bn, from US$3.15bn. The renewed bank facility has 12 lenders who will each commit US$200m. The facilities will have tenors of between three and five years as follows: US$1,200m in FY19; US$300m in FY20; and US$900m in FY21.
Newcrest noted it has strengthened its balance sheet over 22 months to 30 April 2016 by using free cash flow to reduce net debt by US$1.33bn, with US$277m of this net debt reduction occurring since 1 January 2016.
This article is written by Mark Bayley. The lead credit analyst, Alen Golubovic will add his comments when he returns from holiday.