UK chemicals giant Ineos Group secured consent from more than 90% of its lenders for a €1 billion loan and bond refinancing plan, the company said on Monday.

Ineos improved the terms of the loan amendment last week and extended the deadline by a week after some lenders objected to the initial proposal in March. The amendment will allow the highly indebted company to issue around €1 billion of new senior secured bonds and term loans with a maturity of at least five years to refinance some of its existing senior debt.

"The transaction, when completed, will place the group in a stronger position as trading improves and is the next step in the company's plan to improve liquidity and reduce risk," Ineos said in a statement.

Ineos, which had debt of €6.5 billion in March, suffered from customer destocking at the peak of the credit crunch, but reported a rise in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to €1.2 billion last year from €594 million in 2008. The price of Ineos's loans improved after the news on Monday.

Indicative average bids on Ineo's euro term loan A tranche climbed to 100% of face value, or par, from 99.61% at the start of April, Thomson Reuters LPC data shows. As previously reported, Ineos will now have to repay at least €500 million of debt by the end of 2012 or face an event of default. If Ineos fails to repay €500 million by the end of 2011, it will face an increase in interest margins of up to 50 basis points (bps) and will default if it fails to pay the €500 million by the end of 2012.

The privately-owned group will also be subject to weekly liquidity tests, although the margin increase and liquidity tests will not apply if the company is rated B- or higher by Standard & Poor's and B3 or more by Moody's.