Fortis Bank Nederland is the mandated lead arranger on a US$100mn syndicated loan facility for the acquisition of two ships by Korean companies.
On delivery, each ship will be chartered to Korea Lines Corporation and then sub-chartered to either Grand China Shipping Company, Hong Kong or Glovis Company, Korea.
The ships will both be capesize-class dry bulk carriers, which are typically above 150,000 long tonnes deadweight.
The deal was established under the Korea Development Bank’s shipping programme, which aims to support Korean shipping companies in temporary financial difficulty to acquire new or second-hand vessels.
International law firm Watson, Farley and Williams oversaw the deal. The team was led by partner Madeline Leong, who was assisted by Lee Chien Herr and Vijay Jeyaratnam.
Leong speaks to GTR about the deal: "There is continued demand for financing in Korea and this transaction, although complicated, adopts a recently devised structure which has been successful in raising funds and addressing such need for financing in Korea. Such transaction also demonstrates the interest, commitment and support of the international and Korean financial communities in credit-worthy Korean projects. The market will probably see more of this type of Korean financing structure in the future."
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