Ameren restates Missouri, Illinois facilities for revolvers due 2021

By Tali Rackner

Norfolk, Va., Dec. 8 – Ameren Corp. and subsidiary Ameren Missouri (Union Electric Co.) entered into an amended and restated credit agreement on Wednesday with JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA as agent, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The credit agreement amends and restates the companies’ $1 billion multi-year senior unsecured revolving credit agreement dated Dec. 11, 2014.

Also on Wednesday, Ameren and subsidiary Ameren Illinois Co. entered into an amended and restated credit agreement with JPMorgan as agent.

This credit agreement amends and restates the companies’ $1.1 billion multi-year senior unsecured revolving credit agreement dated Dec. 11, 2014.

JPMorgan, Barclays, MUFG, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and Mizuho Bank, Ltd. are the joint arrangers and bookrunners under each of the restated credit agreements, with Barclays and MUFG as syndication agents and Bank of America, NA and Mizuho as co-documentation agents.

The amended credit agreements extended the maturity date of the commitments under the 2014 credit agreements to Dec. 7, 2021 from Dec. 11, 2019.

The maturity date under each amended facility may be further extended for two additional one-year periods.

The maximum borrowing limits under the Amended Agreements remain unchanged at $700 million for Ameren and $800 million for Ameren Missouri, in the case of the amended Missouri credit agreement, and $500 million for Ameren and $800 million for Ameren Illinois, in the case of the amended Illinois credit agreement.

Borrowings by Ameren will be due on the maturity date, while borrowings by Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois will be due no later than the earlier of the maturity date and 364 days after the date of the borrowing.

The commitments for letters of credit remain limited under the amended Missouri facility to a maximum of $275 million total and under the amended Illinois facility to a maximum of $250 million total.

At closing, the borrowers had received commitments from lenders to issue letters of credit of up to $100 million under each of the amended facilities.

Interest is equal to Libor plus 80 basis points to 147.5 bps, based on credit ratings.

The facility fee ranges from 7.5 bps to 27.5 bps.

The amended credit agreements continue to require compliance with a number of covenants similar to those under the 2014 credit agreements, provided that the covenants in the Illinois facility were modified to: (a) Remove any restrictions on the Illinois borrowers’ investments in project finance subsidiaries and special purpose companies; (b) remove the limitation on the aggregate outstanding dollar amount of liens that may be secured under Ameren Illinois first mortgage bonds; and (c) remove the requirement that Ameren maintain a minimum ratio of consolidated funds from operations plus interest expense to consolidated interest expense.

In addition, the requirement that the lenders be equally and ratably secured by certain liens from time to time granted by the borrowers was removed.

Ameren is a St. Louis-based electric and natural gas company.

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