SITA has signed a US$400m inaugural sustainability-linked revolving credit facility over a minimum three-year term.
The backup facility will support the company’s general business needs, such as developing new solutions and strategies to alleviate the air transportation industry’s challenges of today and in the future. According to the company, the syndication was oversubscribed. As part of the arrangement, four banks have signed up to support SITA in addition to the company’s five existing banking partners.
This new backup syndicated facility will supersede the company’s previous bilateral committed lines and is now directly linked to pre-agreed environmental KPIs and yearly targets, with a bonus or a malus on the interest margin depending on SITA’s performance.
The syndicated credit facility is intended to support the company’s sustainability efforts. This is because it includes significant reduction targets relating to Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions to align with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) frameworks. SITA’s performance against these targets will be externally audited.
Société Générale and Crédit Industriel et Commercial are acting as joint coordinators and bookrunners of the transaction. Société Générale has been mandated as environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) coordinator and facility agent while Crédit Industriel et Commercial acted as documentation agent. In addition, Barclays, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan joined as mandated lead arrangers. Bank of China, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), and Unicredit are taking part as lead arrangers while Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) is taking part as arranger.
Nicolas Husson, CFO of SITA, said, “Sustainability is high on our agenda and we are deeply committed to ensuring a sustainable future for all, including for our employees, customers and partners. We are delighted to secure financing that is directly linked to the performance of our sustainability ambitions.”