Taylor Wessing advises syndicate of banks on a sustainability-linked EUR 500,000,000 syndicated facility for Symrise AG

A team from the international law firm Taylor Wessing, led by Clemens Niedner, head of the Banking and Finance practice group, advised UniCredit as documentation agent on the syndicated financing for Symrise group, listed in the MDAX. In the banking syndicate consisting of eleven financial institutions, jointly coordinated by Commerzbank and UniCredit, LBBW is acting as facility agent and Rabobank is acting as sole sustainability coordinator.

The EUR 500,000,000 facility is provided by an international consortium and offers flexibility with regard to the term structure and drawdown in optional currencies. The sustainability criteria are individually tailored to the needs of the group and include the eco-efficiency of greenhouse gas emissions, the expansion of sustainable procurement processes for biological raw materials and increasing the efficiency of water consumption in arid regions.

"The current changes with regard to the replacement of LIBOR and the very individually designed sustainability criteria have made the transaction particularly attractive", Clemens Niedner explains the challenges of the mandate.

Symrise is a leading global supplier of fragrances and flavours, cosmetic base and active ingredients as well as functional ingredients and is listed on the German MDAX.

Legal advisors to the lenders:
Taylor Wessing: lead Clemens Niedner (partner), Jacqueline Arbogast (senior associate), Yasaman Zargar (associate), all Banking and Finance, all Frankfurt am Main, Prof. Dr. Jens Escher (partner, Düsseldorf), Dr. Philipp Weiten (associate, Düsseldorf) all Tax.