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CIC to offer $159m loan to Aussie firm

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-17 15:42

BEIJING -- The China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country's sovereign wealth fund, confirmed Wednesday that it will lend 200 million Australian dollars (US$159 million) to Australia's leading property trust Goodman Group.

CIC would commit to a financing facility alongside Macquarie Bank, Australia's biggest investment bank, said a source with CIC who declined to be named.

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Goodman Group is the third overseas company which CIC had chosen to invest in after buying stakes in Blackstone and Morgan Stanley since 2007.

To accommodate CIC's funds, Macquarie Bank had sold down A$15 million of its exposure, which combined with CIC's commitment of A$200 million takes the final facility size to A$485 million, according to Goodman Group.

The facility would expire in February 2010, and is extendable for a further 15 months, said the group in an announcement on its website.

Under the deal, CIC's debt would convert into options at a strike price of 40 cents.

The facility would provide more liquidity to the Goodman Group, help it be more conservatively leveraged and improve its debt structure with sustainable and adequate funds over the next two years, it said.

"We are very pleased with the support shown to the group by CIC and are excited about the opportunity to partner with an institution of this calibre as we seek to grow our business globally," said Greg Goodman, Group CEO of Goodman.

The deal will need approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board, the country's foreign-investment regulator.