In a statement issued here on Sunday, BankAm said that "RIL had succesfully refinanced a $150 million term-loan with a residual maturity of 1.75 years. The transaction was very well received by the market, with a diverse group of 15 banks in the final syndicate from nine different countries." The deal was signed on January 5. "The loan carries a margin of 45 bps per annum over six months Libor and represents a saving of 30 bps per annuum over the previous loan," BankAm said.

Joining the three mandated arrangers to the transaction - BankAm, ABN Amro Bank and Citibank - to form the final arranger group, were Bank of Baroda (BoB), Mizuho Financial Group (Fuji Bank), Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart), State Bank of India, and Tokyo-Mitsubishi International.

RIL treasurer Alok Agarwal said, "We are pleased to start off the new year with a refinancing arranged by a group of key relationship banks. This trasnsaction is an important part of the company's ongoing strategy to obtain competetive financing and reduce costs."

The latest transaction by RIL is the first cross-border loan deal by a local corporate in the new millennium. In the last fiscal, the group was in the news when group concern, Reliance Petroleum, put through a series of letters of credit (L/c) syndication in the international loan markets. In December 2000, HSBC and Deustche Bank had concluded $375 million letter of credit (L/c) for Reliance Petroleum (RPL) at 35 bps. HSBC was the sole L/c issuing, arranging, and confirming bank. In October, RPL concluded a similar $550 million facility. The base L/c syndication-amount was $450 million, and $100 million was kept as a green-shoe option. This deal was put through by ABN Amro Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Stanchart, Toronto Dominion Bank, Canara Bank, BoB, Punjab National Bank and Syndicated Bank.

In end-July, RPL did an L/c deal for $450 million, which was oversubsribed by $75 million, and arranged by BankAm, Credit Agricole Indosuez, HSBC and StanChart. This transaction included a $350 million L/c facility and $75 million green-shoe option. The first such deal by RPL was a $250 million facility during end-June. ABN Amro Bank was the arranger and co-arrangers were Fuji Bank, Credit Lyonnais, Toronto Dominion Bank, PNB, ICICI Bank, BoB, Bank of India. Other participating banks were Barclays Plc and Union Bank of India.