for your information

This make 3.8b seem very small...

Goldman, banks lend record $US55bn for BHP, Rio
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, UBS AG and four other banks have agreed to loan a record $US55 billion, after BHP Billiton made a formal takeover offer for rival Rio Tinto Group, reports Bloomberg.

The loan would top the previous record of €35 billion ($US51 billion) borrowed by utility Enel SpA in Rome to buy Madrid-based power producer Endesa SA in April.

The mining giant hired Goldman, Citigroup and UBS AG as advisers when it first announced the bid in November.

"The $US55 billion is the amount of money that we need, on a very conservative basis, in order to complete that financing picture,'' BHP chief executive officer Marius Kloppers said.

Citigroup and Goldman, both in New York, are arranging the loan with Barclays and HSBC Holdings in London, Paris-based BNP Paribas SA, UBS in Zurich and Spain's Banco Santander SA.