American Axle increases revolver to $375 million, adds tranche

By Angela McDaniels

Tacoma, Wash., July 1 - American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. amended and restated its Jan. 9, 2004 credit facility on Thursday, increasing the commitments by $79 million and extending the maturity of $235 million of the commitments to June 30, 2016.

The $375 million revolver now includes a class D facility. The loans under the class D facility are held by new lenders as well as lenders that agreed to extend and increase their commitments, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The amended and restated revolver also includes a class A loan facility of about $53 million that matures on Dec. 31, 2011 and a class C loan facility of about $87 million that matures on June 30, 2013.

The interest rate is Libor plus 300 basis points to 450 bps for the new class D facility, depending on the corporate ratings of the company. The margin is unchanged at 600 bps for the class A facility and 475 bps to 675 bps for the class C facility.

The commitment fee is 37.5 bps to 62.5 bps for the class D facility, 75 bps for the class A facility and 50 bps to 100 bps for the class C facility.

The company said the amendment revised some negative covenants to provide increased flexibility. The maximum net priority leverage ratio is initially 2.75 times, stepping down to 2.5 times on March 31, 2013 and to 2.25 times on March 31, 2014. The total net leverage ratio cannot exceed 2.75 times.

In addition, the company can elect to release the loan's collateral if it achieves investment-grade corporate credit ratings from Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service.

JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA is the administrative agent. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are the lead arrangers and bookrunners.

The company paid a $2.83 million amendment fee.

The amendment was conditioned on the termination of the company's Sept. 16, 2009 credit agreement with General Motors Co. as lender.

The company is a subsidiary of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc., a Detroit-based automotive supplier.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.