On 26 April 2022, Syngenta Group (HK) Holdings Company Limited, which is a wholly owned overseas subsidiary of the Syngenta Group (the “Group”), entered into USD 4,500 million syndicated three-year sustainability-linked term loan facility with a syndicate of banks from 11 jurisdictions. It is the Group’s first syndicated loan from the international market since its founding and asset restructuring, and the Group’s first sustainability-linked loan (“SLL”). According to statistics of Refinitiv, a financial data provider, it is the biggest-ever sustainability-linked loan in the Asia-Pacific region and has been the largest executed term loan facility in the Greater China loan market since the beginning of 2022.

The initial size of this transaction (USD 2,500 million) was oversubscribed about 2.1 times due to the strong market response, with the subscription amount reaching USD 5,180 million and the final loan amount increasing to USD 4,500 million. The syndicate was led by the Agricultural Bank of China Limited Hong Kong Branch, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, China Construction Bank Corporation, Hong Kong Branch and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, which jointly acted as the lead manager, bookrunner and underwriter, and included 25 financial institutions from China, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, etc., fully demonstrating the confidence of international banks in future development of the Group. In addition, the borrower has commissioned Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) as an independent external auditor to provide second-party opinions and report audit services for this SLL in terms of sustainability-linked indicators.

As a core enterprise of Sinochem Holdings’ life science segment, the Group, initially completed its restructuring in 2020, has significantly improved its asset & liability structure and business structure and won investment-grade credit ratings from the world’s top three credit rating agencies (“A” from Fitch, “Baa1” from Moody’s and“BBB+” from S&P), laying a solid foundation for the establishment of the syndicate. As one of the world’s leading agriculture innovation companies, the Group always pursues the vision of green and sustainable development. The SLL is an important milestone in the sustainable development of the Group, signifying that more resources will be used to support upgrading of the sustainable agricultural system and make breakthroughs in relevant technologies so as to create long-term value for the society.