BAA, THE owner of London’s Heathrow Airport, obtained £2.75 billion of loans to refinance debt maturing next year, increasing the size of the facility after lenders oversubscribed the deal.

The financing includes a five-year, £2 billion revolving credit, split among a £1.5 billion class A portion, a £400 million class B piece and a £100 million working capital facility, according to a statement from London-based BAA.

The class A loan pays interest of 150 basis points more than the London interbank offered rate and the class B pays 225 basis points more than Libor. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

The loans, which mature in 2017, will replace a similar facility signed in 2008 and due in August 2013, BAA said. Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays co-ordinated the deal, which attracted about £4 billion of commitments from 17 relationship banks, allowing the company to increase the size from an original target of £2.1 billion, BAA said. The amount outstanding in the existing revolving credit has been reduced to about £425 million through bond sales, and more notes will be issued to repay the remainder before maturity. – (Bloomberg)