Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), owned by Tata Motors, has entered into agreements with lenders in China for an unsecured three-year term loan facility of 5 billion yuan ($704.50 million), marking its first debt financing in China, it said.

Arthur Yu, JLR’s vice-president and China chief financial officer, said the Chinese banks that would provide it with the three-year revolving loan include Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

The fundraising comes as the coronavirus pandemic has hit the global automakers’ supply chains and sales. Sales from China used to account for 25-30 per cent of JLR’s global sales, but over the past two months make up 50 per cent, Yu said.

The loan facility “can help JLR China better manage cash flow amid the coronavirus epidemic”, Yu told reporters on Friday.