BAHRAIN, 4 September 2006 — Gulf International Bank (GIB) has arranged a $136 million loan for Energy Spring LNG Carrier SA, a joint venture equally owned by Oman Shipping Company (OSC) and Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. The loan agreement was signed in Oman over the weekend, according to a GIB press release yesterday.
GIB is the original mandated lead arranger and sole underwriter, facility agent and security trustee of this transaction.
This financing received strong support from Bank Muscat SAOG, as mandated lead arranger, and Arab Bank Plc and Oman Arab bank SAOG as lead arrangers.
The loan signing ceremony was held in Muscat in the presence of Adel Al-Raisi, chairman, Energy Spring LNG Carrier SA, and Abbas Ameeri, GIB’s managing director-merchant banking.
The loan will be used to refinance Energy Spring’s $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.