Asian banks team up for ship acquisition

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has signed a loan agreement of approximately US$57mn with the Korea Development Bank (KDB), co-financed by the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

The loan will finance, through KDB, the acquisition of two 55,800 deadweight tonnage (dwt) bulk carriers due to be built in Japanese shipyards by a Panamanian subsidiary of a leading Korean shipping company, SK Shipping Co.

JBIC signed the loan as a way to support exports by Japanese firms and to contribute to maintaining and improving the international competitiveness of the county’s shipbuilders, and has pledged to continue actively supporting the exporting of ships built in domestic shipyards.