American Axle restates facility, lifting commitments by $116 million

By Marisa Wong

Madison, Wis., Sept. 4 - American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. wholly owned subsidiary American Axle & Manufacturing amended and restated its credit agreement dated Jan. 9, 2004 on Friday, according to an 8-K filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The amended and restated agreement increases total commitments under the revolving credit facility by about $116 million and increases commitments maturing on June 30, 2016, the class D facility, to $365 million.

The class D facility includes loans held by existing lenders that agreed to extend or increase their respective commitments and new lenders.

The amended and restated revolver also includes a $73 million class C loan facility that matures on June 30, 2013.

Borrowings bear interest at Libor plus an applicable margin based on the company's ratings. The applicable margins for the class C and class D facilities are 475 basis points to 675 bps and 300 bps to 450 bps, respectively.

Under the amended revolver, certain negative covenants were revised to provide increased flexibility.

In the event the subsidiary achieves investment-grade ratings from Standard & Poor's and Moody's, it may elect to release all of the collateral from the liens granted under a collateral agreement dated Nov. 7, 2008 and amended on Dec. 18, 2009 and June 30, 2011. Under the collateral agreement, the revolver is secured on a first priority basis by all or substantially all of American Axle's and its parent company's assets.

JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA is the administrative agent, and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are the joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners for the restated facility, which was previously amended on June 30, 2011.

American Axle is a Detroit-based producer of driveline and drivetrain systems and related components and chassis modules for the automotive industry.

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