ANZ Banking Group and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd were joint coordinating arrangers of the syndicated three year loan.  Eighty per cent of the loan facility is funded by Asian banks from Taiwan, Japan, China and Singapore. 

Woodside announced funds from the loan will be used for capital expenditure and general corporate purposes.  The loan facility has been assigned an 'A-' long-term senior-unsecured debt rating by Standard & Poor's. 

Megan O'Rourke, a Corrs banking and finance partner, has advised Woodside on its two most recent debt financings, including this year's US$1 billion US bond issue.  

Last year, O'Rourke advised Woodside on its US$1.5 billion facility with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and a syndicate of eight Australian and international banks. 

O'Rourke said: “The success of Woodside’s debt raising demonstrates the continuing market appetite for good quality credits. In the market generally, we are also seeing the emergence of alternative sources of funding, such as from the Asian market, retail corporate bonds and potentially Islamic financing.”

Woodside's capital-raising follows Woolworths' completion of a syndicated loan on 8 May and Telstra's completion of a syndicated loan facility this week. All three have involved Asian banks, underlining the attraction of debt in Australian ASX 50 companies for Asian investment. 

The deal comes following an announcement by the company on the 19 May that it had secured a $1.5bn loan facility. 

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The Australian Financial Review reported at the time that the loan facility would eradicate any conjecture that the mining group would need to undertake an equity raising.