Mexican conglomerate Alfa Friday signed a $600m 3-year syndicated loan, according to bankers with knowledge of the transaction. Credit Suisse and HSBC are the leads on the transaction, which pays 300bp over Libor, linked to a leverage grid. Participation is heard to have come from 16 banks, with the deal almost 2x oversubscribed. Orders were received at the MLA level from Inbursa, Santander, ING, Credit Agricole and Bancomext. At the arranger level Scotia, Banco de Chile, Banorte and Bank of America participated. At the manager level Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Bladex, Mizuho and Wells Fargo made commitments. The deal is to back the $600m purchase of Eastman Chemical assets in the US. Alfa’s purchase of Eastman’s polyethylene terephthalate resins business and related assets and technology of its Performance Polymers segment was done by Alfa unit DAK Americas. On the M&A, BAML advised Eastman while HSBC worked on the buyside. Fitch downgraded Alfa subsidiary Grupo Petrotemex to BB (stable) from BB+, including notes issued by DAK, amid fears over leverage incurred in the purchase.