By Abhinav Ramnarayan
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LONDON (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur Football Club plans to refinance about 400 million pounds ($485 million) of its stadium debt through bonds issued via a private placement arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), according to a source familiar with the matter.
The holding company of the English soccer club originally took out a 400 million pound five-year loan from BAML, Goldman Sachs and HSBC in 2017 to finance the construction of its new 62,062-seat stadium. <https://reut.rs/2Z7FPHR>
Last year the club confirmed that the loan had increased to 637 million pounds as costs of the project rose.
Soccer website The Athletic, which first reported the news on Wednesday, said the bonds will have maturities ranging from 15 to 30 years and will be targeted at institutional investors in the United States, extending the debt's maturity profile. <https://bit.ly/2NoKFcG>
BAML declined to comment and the soccer club was not immediately reachable for comment.
Loose central bank policy has enabled many companies to trim financing costs and extend debt maturities as investors search for yield in environment of unprecedented low rates.
In Europe, the United States and the UK, 30-year government debt yields hit record lows last week, prompting many borrowers to consider long-dated debt issuance.
(Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan; Editing by Sinead Cruise and David Goodman)