LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - Banks are considering committing funds to German conglomerate Evonik's 1.5 billion euro ($2.0 billion) loan refinancing to replace a 2.25 billion facility maturing next March, banking sources said on Monday. The new 1.5 billion euro loan includes three 500 million euro revolving credit facilities with two, three and five-year maturities. Lenders have been invited to commit 50 million euros for which they will receive fees of 65 basis points (bps) on the two-year tranche, 100 bps on the three-year tranche and 150 bps on the five year tranche, the bankers said. As previously reported, the initial interest margin on the two year facility is 175 bps over EURIBOR, while the three-year facility pays 200 bps and the five-year facility is priced at 275 bps over EURIBOR. There are utilisation fees of 25 bps and 50 bps for drawings of more than one third and two thirds respectively. There is also a commitment fee of 40 percent of the applicable margin on undrawn funds, sources said previously. Evonik, which is planning to spin off its real estate and energy units to emerge as a specialty chemicals company, is 75 percent owned by RAG-Stiftung and 25 percent owned by private equity firm CVC, which bought a minority stake in 2008. Commitments on the new loan are expected by May 18, one banker said, ahead of closing in June. Banks at the top level of the deal are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BayernLB, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale, UniCredit and WestLB. A source previously said the current financing was being raised at the operating company level and did not affect the 1.25 billion euro non-standard leveraged buy out financing that backed CVC's stake acquisition which still has three years to run. (Reporting by Zaida Espana & Alasdair Reilly; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.7453 euro) Keywords: EVONIK/LOAN (zaida.espana@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 7996; Reuters Messaging: zaida.espana.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved.
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