Aluko & Oyebode acted as Nigerian Legal Counsel to Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc (“the Borrower”) in connection with the provision of credit facilities to the Borrower by a syndicate of Nigerian and international financial institutions, comprised of:
- a US$300 million corporate secured revolving credit facility;
- a US$700 million secured term facility; and
- an accordion facility of up to US$700 million.
The Borrower is a leading independent oil and gas exploration company in Nigeria and, in 2010, was the first indigenous company to acquire, and become the operator of onshore oil and gas assets. The credit facilities were granted partly for the purpose of refinancing the company’s existing debts, releasing existing security and putting in place new security for the new syndicate of lenders. The transaction was innovative in that it incorporated an accordion feature and closed within a relatively short timeframe of 4 months.
