Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) has announced that it has signed five-year, HK$35bn (US$4.5bn) loan facilities with 21 local and international banks.
The facilities comprise a term loan tranche of HK$17.5bn (US$2.3bn) and a revolving credit facility tranche of the same amount. The authority stated that the all-in pricing of 82 basis points over Hong Kong Inter-Bank Offered Rate (HIBOR) is among the lowest interest rates for club or syndicated bank loan deals with the same tenor since the outbreak of Covid-19.
The airport noted that the loan facilities will be used for funding of capital expenditure, including its Three-runway System (3RS) project and for general corporate purposes. Impressively, AA launched the facilities at HK$20bn (US$2.6bn), and received overwhelming demand from the banks, so decided to increase the amount of the facilities to HK$35bn.
Jack So, chairman of the AA, said, “We are very pleased with the financial community’s overwhelmingly positive response towards our term and revolving credit facilities amid the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic crisis has not distracted us from our long-term vision of securing the airport’s position as a leading international aviation hub, for which the development of the 3RS holds the key. The project is progressing well, and we are on track to commence operation of the third runway in 2022 and the entire 3RS in 2024.”