Olam secures US$1.85 billion loan
[SINGAPORE] Agribusiness giant Olam has secured a US$1.85 billion loan for general corporate purposes, said the company on Friday (May 30) via a bourse filing.
The loan, which was taken by Olam Agri – the company's food, feed and fibre operating group – has a three-year tenor and will be disbursed in two tranches.
The first tranche is a US$1.6 billion conventional loan, while the remaining US$250 million will be issued as an Islamic loan.
For the conventional tranche, the lead arrangers are ANZ, BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, Natixis, as well as First Abu Dhabi. These are the banks responsible for arranging and syndicating the loan.
HSBC is the conventional tranche's facility agent, which is responsible for managing the loan's day-to-day activities and the relationships between the borrower and lenders.
For the Islamic tranche, the lead arranger and investment agent is Dubai Islamic Bank.
Shares of Olam rose 1.1 per cent, or S$0.01, to close at S$0.90 on Friday.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
9 hours ago
- Straits Times
China bans all poultry imports from Brazil on bird flu case
The sweeping ban from China clouds the outlook for exports from Brazil. PHOTO: REUTERS China bans all poultry imports from Brazil on bird flu case China has banned imports of all poultry products from Brazil after a bird flu outbreak was detected in the world's top exporter, halting a trade worth more than US$1 billion (S$1.29 billion). Direct and indirect imports of all poultry and related products from Brazil are banned in order to prevent the importation of bird flu, China's customs agency said in a statement published on May 30. The agency also said all plants and animal waste arriving from Brazil must undergo disinfestation. The sweeping ban from China, the largest buyer of Brazilian chicken meat, clouds the outlook for exports from the South American country. That comes even as the two nations work to bolster relations amid the ongoing global trade war launched by US President Donald Trump. Earlier this month, Brazil halted chicken shipments to China and the European Union for 60 days after the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza was reported on a commercial farm in the South American nation. Brazil, responsible for about a third of the world's chicken meat exports, shipped more than 10 per cent of its products to China in 2024, according to data from the Department of Agriculture. The bilateral trade was worth about US$1.5 billion in 2024, according to China customs data. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
17 hours ago
- Business Times
Macron touts ‘positive new' Asia-Europe alliance amid US-China rivalry
[SINGAPORE] French President Emmanuel Macron urged Asia and Europe to work together in a new coalition based on common principles to push back against the inevitability of being caught between global superpowers. Singling out the China-US rivalry as the biggest risk confronting the world, the French leader said he wants to be able to cooperate with the US at the same time as compete with but not confront China –while adopting a 'demanding approach' that puts France's interests first. In expanding on the French doctrines of 'strategic autonomy' and 'freedom of sovereignty' to a gathering of global leaders at a pre-eminent security forum in the Asia-Pacific, President Macron sketched out a plausible 'third way' for Europe and the rest of Asia amid significant shifts in the world order and a world beset by multiple crises. 'The time for non-alignment has undoubtedly passed, but the time for coalitions of action has come and requires that countries capable of acting together give themselves every means to do so,' Macron said in his keynote address at the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30. 'Let's build a positive new alliance between Europe and Asia, based on our common norms, on our common principles. 'Our shared responsibility is to ensure with others that our countries are not collateral victims of the imbalances linked to the choices made by the superpowers,' the leader of Europe's second-largest economy added. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Macron called upon Asian countries, particularly India, and members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to work together. 'Let's work in an open way, the genuine way,' he said. 'But let's work very closely on defence, security and all the building blocks of our value chains.' The administration of US President Donald Trump has upended longstanding US commitments to the post-Cold War order and imposed trade tariffs on even its closest allies since returning to office at the turn of 2025. Washington has also ratcheted up its hawkish efforts to contain China that have left the rest of the world reeling in the wake of its actions and China's responses, fearing a full-fledged trade war that would crimp economic growth globally. For its part, China has been engaged in dangerous skirmishes with Philippine coast guard and navy vessels in waters in the South China Sea where it has overlapping claims with the Philippines. 'We have a challenge of revisionist countries that want to impose under the name of spheres of influence – in reality, spheres of coercion; countries that want to control areas from the fringe of Europe to the archipelagos in the South China Sea, at the exclusion of regional partners, oblivious to international law,' Macron said, without making overt references to China or Russia. Macron pointed out that France is an Indo-Pacific nation as seven of its offshore territories sit in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, with a million French citizens living in this region. In 2018, his government released an Indo-Pacific security strategy. He said that the strategy would be updated in the coming weeks. In the past 12 months, the Russians have engaged the support of North Korean troops in their invasion of Ukraine, now well into its fourth year – sparking fears of a broader conflagration of the war. 'But what's happening with North Korea being present alongside Russia on the European side is a big question for all of us,' Macron said. On the whole, China and North Korea are ideologically aligned, while Beijing and Moscow have referred to themselves as 'friends of steel'. 'And this is why, if China doesn't want Nato being involved in South-east Asia or in Asia, they should prevent, clearly, DPRK from being engaged on European soil,' the French leader added, referring to the abbreviation of the official name for North Korea. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was a peacetime military alliance established in 1949 to provide collective security against the threat of expansionism posed by the former Soviet Union. While Russia has often cited the growth of Nato to include several former Soviet states as a reason for its invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has viewed recent talk about a possible Nato office in Tokyo as a threat and part of an attempt to encircle it. At the same time, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked fears that China could well do the same with Taiwan, a self-governing territory that Beijing claims as its own to be reunified by force if necessary. 'So what is at stake in Ukraine is our common credibility to be sure that we are still able to preserve territorial integrity and sovereignty of people,' Macron said. The French President also flagged the 'big risk of nuclear proliferation', acknowledging the critical levers the US has with the Iranians at a time when tensions are fraught in the Middle East. With Russia a nuclear power and North Korea also developing its nuclear arsenal with the assistance of China, Macron warns that any type of nuclear proliferation in Iran will trigger 'all sorts of justification proliferate elsewhere with the domino effect'. Macron's keynote address marked the end of a week-long swing through South-east Asia. In his address at the security forum organised by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the French President said this new Asia-Europe alliance he is proposing 'feels like' Singapore's DNA. He also left the door open for China and the US to join this coalition. 'We must show consistency where others practise a double game. 'And this is exactly my call tonight: Let's build new coalitions of open trade, open dialogue to derisk our models, stabilise environments and new coalitions to stabilise an open and rules-based order,' he said. THE STRAITS TIMES
Business Times
18 hours ago
- Business Times
Blackstone lowers offer for warehouse Reit, extends deadline
FUNDS managed by Blackstone have lowered an offer to purchase Warehouse real estate investment trust (Reit) Plc after matters uncovered in due diligence made a previous bid unworkable, according to a statement. Blackstone submitted a final offer of 110.6 pence per share on May 19, valuing the real estate trust at roughly £470 million (US$633 million), according to a statement from Warehouse Reit on Friday (May 30). That is down from a previous proposal of 115 pence per share. Blackstone informed Warehouse Reit's board earlier this month it would not proceed with its offer following its due diligence procedures. In particular, Blackstone highlighted varying views on the value of a development asset at Radway Green. Blackstone's deadline for its firm bid has been extended to Jun 6 to provide for finalizing terms and conditions, according to the statement. The alternative asset manager has been vying to take over Warehouse Reit for months. BLOOMBERG