Gulf International Bank (GIB) has arranged a US$ 136 million loan for Energy Spring LNG Carrier S.A., a joint venture equally owned by Oman Shipping Company (OSC) and Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. The loan agreement was signed in Oman on 30 August 2006.
GIB is the original mandated lead arranger/sole underwriter, facility agent and security trustee of this transaction. This financing received strong support from Bank Muscat S.A.O.G., as mandated lead arranger, and Arab Bank plc. and Oman Arab Bank S.A.O.C. as lead arrangers. The loan signing ceremony was held in Muscat in the presence of Mr. Adel Al-Raisi, Chairman, Energy Spring LNG Carrier S.A., and Mr. Abbas Ameeri, GIB’s Managing Director-Merchant Banking.
The loan will be used to refinance Energy Spring’s US$ 115 million senior term loan it borrowed from GIB in 2004, along with other existing indebtedness that partly financed the Company’s acquisition of a 135,000 cubic meter LNG vessel, Sohar LNG.
The tenor of the term loan facility matches the remaining life of the time charter agreement executed in 2004 between the borrower and Oman Charter Company (OCC), a wholly owned subsidiary of OSC. This head charter is backed by a sub charter agreement between OCC and Oman LNG, which is the basis on which the deal has been structured—non-recourse with an annuity repayment profile over a period of 16 years.
Energy Spring was incorporated and registered in Panama in 2004 for the specific purpose of acquiring and owning the ‘Sohar LNG’ vessel. Oman Shipping Company was incorporated in 2003 to invest in shipping ventures of strategic importance, such as LNG carriers, chemical carriers, very large crude carriers, oil tankers, etc. Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd was established in 1884 and is a comprehensive shipping and total logistics organisation, which operates more than 500 vessels worldwide ranging from container carriers, bulk carriers and crude oil tankers to several kinds of specialised carriers.
GIB is a leading merchant bank and one of the largest regional banks in the GCC, with more than $26 billion of its own assets and in excess of $20 billion of clients’ assets under management. With a proven track record spanning more than 30 years, GIB provides client-led, innovative financial products and services to a wide customer base in the region, including investment banking, asset management, project and structured finance and Islamic banking.
