Credit Agricole News

Offshore wind installation company Havfram has signed a Senior Secured Green ECA Term Loan Facility to fund its two wind turbine installation vessels ("WTIVs"), currently under construction at CIMC Raffles in China. The Facility was entered into with a syndicate led by DNB Bank ASA (Coordinator, Bookrunner, Green Loan Advisor and Agent) with SpareBank 1 SR-Bank ASA, Credit Agricole, Sparebanken Vest and Rabobank as Mandated Lead Arrangers and with Export Finance Norway as ECA lender.

Vineyard Wind, which is on track to be the first major U.S. offshore wind farm, closed on a $2.3 billion loan and will begin construction in Massachusetts later this year, its owners said on Wednesday.The senior debt financing allows the project, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, to mobilize its contractors and suppliers to begin work, the companies said.The U.S. government approved Vineyard Wind in May, billing it as the inauguration of a new domestic industry that will help eliminate emissions from the power sector…

Golar LNG announced on Thursday it has appointed appointed Karl Fredrik Staubo as CEO, filling the void left by prior chief executive Iain Ross, who stepped down in April.Staubo has since May 2020 been the chief executive officer of Golar LNG Partners LP, recently sold to New Fortress Energy. Since September 2020 Staubo has also been acting as Golar's chief financial officer.Staubo's broad shipping/energy background includes time with Clarksons Platou Securities (2010-2018) and Magni Partners (2018-2020). He has a MA (Business Studies and Economics) from the University of Edinburgh.Golar has also appointed Eduardo Maranhao to take over Staubo's role as CFO.

TORM said on Monday it has entered into an agreement to purchase eight MR product tankers with chemical trading capabilities from TEAM Tankers in a partly share-based transaction.The deal, which includes a total cash consideration of $82.5 million and the issuance of 5.97 million shares, will increase TORM’s total fleet to 83 vessels.The eight vessels are all built at the Croatian shipyard Brodotrogir from 2007 through 2012, and six of them have specialized cargo tank configurations and extended tank segregations (IMO 2), allowing for enhanced trading flexibility through chemical trading options, while still being able to work integrated in the existing One TORM operational platform.The vessels are:TEAM Amorina (2012-built…

Many of the world’s biggest lenders to shipping companies fell short of carbon-cutting targets last year in the first analysis of CO2 goals for the sector by financiers, a report showed on Wednesday.Global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions and the industry is under pressure to reduce those emissions and other pollution. About 90% of world trade is transported by sea.Last year, a group of leading banks signed up to environmental commitments known as the Poseidon Principles…

Norwegian shipping company Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) said it has secured a $60 million sustainability-linked term loan and revolving credit facility for the financing of the seventh and eighth CLEANBU vessels with delivery in 2021, reportedly a first within the maritime industry. Nordea is acting as coordinator and bookrunner and Credit Agricole CIB as sustainability agent.The credit margin will be adjusted, up or down, based on KCC’s sustainability performance, as…

UAE global port operator DP World has launched a $9 billion financing into a targeted syndication process involving less than 10 banks, according to banking sources.The financing, which backs the borrower's privatization, was expected to sell down in a general syndication, but instead DP World decided to offer the deal to a select group of relationship banks.“(The deal is) going out to less than ten relationship banks that have already showed interest in the deal but were unable to join in the senior phase…

With the signing by the France-based international lender to global shipping BNP Paribas and the Swiss multinational investment bank Credit Suisse, Signatories of the Poseidon Principles represent around $140 billion in loans to international shipping – about 30% of the total global ship finance portfolio.Poseidon Principles is a global framework for responsible ship finance which helps incentivize shipping’s decarbonization.They establish a common framework to quantitatively assess and disclose whether financial institutions’ lending portfolios are in line with climate goals set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized…

Global Ship Lease (GSL), UK-based holding company and containership charter owner, has now settled a five-year refinancing of its debt.According to the container ship owner, the new syndicated $268m credit facility is signed with a number of commercial lenders including Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, ABN AMRO Bank, CIT Bank, Hellenic Bank and Siemens Financial Services.GSL expects to draw down the first tranche of the New Senior Loan, in full, of $230 million shortly and will use the proceeds to refinance five existing senior credit facilities with maturities in December 2020 and April 2021, thereby reducing its cost of debt…

A group of leading banks will for the first time include efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions in their decision making when providing shipping company loans, executives said on Tuesday.International shipping accounts for 2.2% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO), has a long-term goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2008 levels by 2050.Working with non-profit organisations the Global Maritime Forum, the Rocky Mountain Institute and London University's UCL Energy Institute…

Eleven banks with a combined shipping finance portfolio of $100bn will for the first time integrate climate considerations into lending decisions to incentivize maritime shipping's decarbonization.Named 'the Poseidon Principles', the new rules are a global framework for assessing and disclosing the climate alignment of financial institutions' shipping portfolios, said joint press release from Rocky Mountain Institute, Global Maritime Forum and UCL Energy Institute.Founding Signatories include Citi, Societe Generale, DNB, ABN Amro, Amsterdam Trade Bank, Credit Agricole CIB, Danish Ship Finance, Danske Bank, DVB, ING and Nordea, and represent around 20% of the global ship finance portfolio."As banks…

London-based international law firm Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has advised Credit Agricole Asia Shipfinance Limited as facility agent on a US$91m term loan facility to a subsidiary of investment firm Sole Shipping Group (advised by Nordisk Legal Services) for the financing of two VLCCs (and scrubbers).According to WFW, the ships will be bareboat chartered to Hong Kong-based Landbridge group, with the leases arranged by Pareto Securities.The lenders were Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and BNP Paribas, it said.The WFW Hong Kong Maritime team advising on the transaction was led by Partner and Office Head Madeline Leong…

Russian maritime shipping company specializing in petroleum and LNG shipping, (SCF Group) has signed a new $297 million limited recourse credit facility to finance its two next-generation LNG carriers.The financing deal, with a duration of up to ten years, was concluded with three international banks – ING Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank.The funds will be used towards pre- and post-delivery financing of two new-generation 174,000-cubic metres Atlanticmax LNG carriers, which will operate under long-term charters to Shell.The vessels feature a slow-speed dual-fuel X-DF diesel engine and gas boil-off partial liquefaction system.

American shipowner Eagle Bulk Shipping  has announced that Eagle Bulk Ultraco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, has closed on a new five-year senior secured facility  totaling USD 208.4 million, maturing in 2024. The global transporter of drybulk commodities said that the Facility is secured by 21 vessels, including the M/V Cape Town Eagle which was acquired earlier this month, and includes a term loan of USD 153.4 million and a revolving credit facility of USD 55 million.Gary Vogel, Eagle’s CEO, said: “We are very pleased that the Company continues to secure increasingly attractive debt financing and has increased its financial flexibility in the process.

Sovcomflot concludes USD 149 million project credit facility for up to 10 years with three leading European banks.Sovcomflot (SCF Group) is pleased to announce that it has signed a new USD 149 million credit facility, for up to 10 years, with a consortium of three leading international banks, comprising: ING Bank N.V.; KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank.The funds will be used towards financing the construction of a new generation 174,000-cubic metres Atlanticmax LNG carrier.

Connecticut-headquartered Eagle Bulk Shipping said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Eagle Bulk Ultraco has received a loan commitment from a consortium of banks for a new five year senior secured facility totaling approximately $208 million.According to the company, the Facility will include a term loan equating to approximately $153 million and a revolving credit facility of $55 million, and will be used to refinance the existing debt of Eagle Bulk Ultraco LLC and Eagle Shipping, as well as for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures relating to the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems, or scrubbers.Upon the closing of the transaction and the repayment in full of the Refinanced Debt…

Navig8 Product Tankers Inc., an international shipping company focused on the transportation of petroleum products, has taken delivery of one LR1 74,000 DWT product tanker, the Navig8 Expedite, from STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co, Ltd. The vessel will be entered into and operated in the LR8 commercial pool operated by the Navig8 Group. Thus far the Company has taken delivery of three LR1 and two LR2 product tankers newbuildings and anticipates that its entire newbuilding fleet will be delivered by the end of 2016. Navig8 Product Tankers recently entered into an amended loan facility for USD 128.5 million with Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CACIB) and BNP Paribas to provide additional financing for LR1 74,000 DWT product tankers being built at STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co.

A €622m-equivalent dividend recapitalization and refinancing loan for Norwegian satellite navigation group Marlink has been withdrawn from the market, sources familiar with the situation said.The leveraged loan for Marlink, which is owed by private equity firm Apax Partners, has run into the turbulence that has hit the European market in the last month, as investors call for better terms and conditions.A combination of increased dealflow and poor secondary trading levels on loans signed earlier this year is helping investors to push for higher pricing and stronger documentation."Several deals have struggled recently. We've seen terms changing and ultimately the market was simply not in a receptive place for this one (Marlink)…

Belgian gas transport and floating solutions specialist Exmar has received a firm commitment for the refinancing of its ten owned pressurized vessels.The fleet is currently 100% chartered out and will be refinanced through several sale and leasebacks with unnamed Japanese owners for a period of up to six years, the company said in a press release.The refinancing will generate approximately USD 60 million of free cash to Exmar.The transaction is subject to documentation and expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year with a partial drawdown in 2018 and the balance in the first quarter of 2019."Exmar and its new Japanese partners are pleased to enter in this new structure together," said the release.

Oman Shipping Company, wholly owned by the government of Oman, raised $227 million in debt to back the purchase of 10 tankers, Societe Generale said on Thursday.   Societe Generale was the sole arranger and sole underwriter of the transaction, which comprised a combination of commercial debt and export credit agency financing.   The commercial portion of the debt package also involved Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, the Korea Development Bank and ABN Amro. Reporting by Davide Barbuscia

Geneva-headquartered energy and commodities trader Vitol has signed an US$8bn loan refinancing of credit facilities agreed in October 2016, the company announced on Wednesday. The revolving credit facility, which is used for working capital and general corporate purposes, comprises a three-year tranche and a 364-day tranche. The three-year tranche totals over US$7bn. ABN AMRO Bank, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC Bank and ING Bank were active bookrunners on the transaction. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, MUFG, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Lloyds Bank, Mizuho Bank, Natixis, Rabobank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered Bank, SMBC and UniCredit Bank were mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Capital Product Partners has announced that its Board of Directors has approved the acquisition of the eco-type crude tanker ‘Aristaios' (112,800 dwt, Ice Class 1C, built 2017, Daehan Shipbuilding, S. Korea) for a total consideration of $52.5 million from the Partnership's sponsor, Capital Maritime & Trading. The M/T ‘Aristaios' is currently employed under a time charter to Tesoro Far East Maritime Company (‘Tesoro') at a gross daily rate of $26,400. The Tesoro charter commenced in January 2017 with duration of five years +/- 45 days. The Partnership intends to fund the acquisition through available cash in the amount of $24.2 million…

Epic Gas Ltd has closed a new USD 120 million post-delivery senior secured credit facility to finance its remaining seven owned vessels under construction. The facility covers approximately 65% of the contract price of the vessels, and has been closed in partnership with Coordinator, Agent and Book running Mandated Lead Arranger ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and NIBC Bank N.V. also joined the facility as Book running Mandated Lead Arrangers. The Company remains committed to the delivery of a high quality fleet with an outstanding new building program of three 7,500cbm vessels and four 11,000cbm vessels, plus an additional 11,000cbm new building to be delivered under a bareboat charter to Epic Gas.