By Claire Ruckin
LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - UK petrol station operator EG Group is set to launch an approximate 3.5bn-equivalent leveraged loan to back acquisitions and refinance existing debt, banking sources said.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Goldman Sachs are leading the jumbo financing alongside Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, ING, Lloyds, Rabobank, RBC and UBS, the sources said.
The financing backs the acquisition of Esso sites in Germany and Italy and refinances EG Group's existing ?620m and 914m term loans, the sources said.
It is due to launch for syndication this week, the sources said.
The financing comprises around 2.85bn-equivalent of term loans -- denominated in euros, dollars and sterling -- as well as a ?250m revolving credit facility. There will also be a letter of credit, although the exact size of that is still to be determined.
TDR Capital-owned EG Group, formerly known as Euro Garages, acquired UK roadside restaurant Little Chef in February, including 78 roadsite sites, from the Kout Food Group.
It was last in the loan market in April 2017 when it repriced its ?620m and 914m term loans, at 500bp over Libor and 400bp over Euribor, respectively. Both loans were offered with a 0% floor and an OID of 99.875, according to Thomson Reuters LPC data.
Prior to that the company tapped the loan market in October 2016 for an 876m-equivalent loan, backing its merger with European Forecourt Retail.
TDR acquired a ?1.3bn minority stake in Euro Garages in January 2016, backed by a ?745m financing split between a ?370m seven-year TLB.
TDR was not immediately available to comment.
(Editing by Christopher Mangham)
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