Amendments, waivers and consents

What is the difference between amendments, waivers and consents?

At a basic level, any variation from the terms of a facility agreement will need an amendment, waiver or consent by the lender(s).

Waivers and amendments will both need lender consent. This is likely to be a straightforward process on a bilateral facility agreement, but more complex on a syndicated transaction. Syndicated facility agreements based on Loan Market Association (LMA) documentation, envisage variations to any finance document to constitute either an amendment or waiver.

Separately, certain facility agreements are drafted so as to permit