Russia’s maritime shipping company Sovcomflot has announced that it has entered into a new USD 264 million six-year revolving credit facility with a consortium of five leading international banks.
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, said Nikolay Kolesnikov, Senior Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer of PAO Sovcomflot.
"The fund 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," Nikolay added.
The consortium of five leading international banks which provided the long-term revolving credit facility includes 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.
“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,” Nikolay added.
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.