Sovcomflot closes USD 264 million long-term revolving credit facility
Sovcomflot (SCF Group) announces that it has entered into a new USD 264 million six-year revolving credit facility with a consortium of five leading international banks, including: Citibank; DVB Bank; ING Bank; Société Générale, and UniCredit acting as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners with ING Bank acting as facility agent.
The credit facility is being used for the early refinancing of a balloon payment due on one of the Group’s tanker loan facilities maturing in 2019, whilst it also provides an additional line of available credit for general corporate purposes. The loan benefits from a favourable long-term tenor, competitive pricing, as well as a flexible revolving mechanism allowing for funds to be drawn and repaid as required.
Nikolay Kolesnikov, Senior Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer of PAO Sovcomflot, said:
“The completion of this credit facility marks the successful finalisation of SCF’s 2018 financing plan, with total new debt capital raised this year amounting to circa USD 900 million, which allows us to fully address the Group’s mid-term financing requirements, to optimise and smooth-out its debt repayment profile, and to build up an additional liquidity cushion.
“We are grateful to our long-standing financial partners for their continued support of SCF’s business. This new loan agreement clearly demonstrates the confidence of international lenders in the robustness of SCF Group’s business model amid continuing market volatility.”
Sovcomflot (SCF Group) is one of the world's leading energy shipping companies, specialising in the transportation of crude oil, petroleum products, and liquefied gas, as well as the servicing of offshore oil and gas exploration and production. The company’s fleet includes 147 vessels with a total deadweight of 12.8 million tonnes. 80 vessels have an ice class.
Sovcomflot is involved in servicing large oil and gas projects in Russia and around the world: Sakhalin-1; Sakhalin-2; Varandey; Prirazlomnoye; Novy Port; Yamal LNG, and Tangguh (Indonesia). The company is headquartered in Saint Petersburg, with offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, London, Limassol, and Dubai.
In February 2018, SCF Group signed a USD 106 million project financing agreement for up to 14 years with Sberbank. The funds were used towards financing the construction of an Arctic shuttle tanker for the Novy Port project, under a long-term agreement with Gazprom Neft.
In April 2018, SCF Group signed a USD 252 million 7-year credit facility with a consortium of six international banks, comprising: ABN AMRO Bank; BNP Paribas; Citibank; ING Bank; KfW IPEX-Bank, and Société Générale. The funds were used towards financing a series of six LNG-fuelled Aframax tankers.
In November 2018, SCF Group signed a USD 149 million credit facility for up to 10 years with a consortium of three leading international banks, comprising: ING Bank; KfW IPEX-Bank, and Credit Agricole. The funds were used towards financing the construction of an LNG carrier that will operate on long-term charters with Total.
Additionally, SCF Group has also closed three bilateral credit transactions with ING Bank, DVB Bank, and Société Générale over the year, totalling circa USD 100 million.
