Baku, Azerbaijan, August 16
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
The Beyneu-Shymkent Pipeline LLP has signed a loan agreement to attract a syndicated loan worth $720 million from international banks, Trend reports with reference to the press office of the National Gas Operator KazTransGas JSC.
“Beyneu-Shymkent Pipeline LLP is to allocate the lending to refinancing liabilities allocated by China Development Bank and Bank of China in 2012,” the report said.
The MUFG Bank, Ltd (Japan) and Bank of China, Ltd (China) are the organizers of the funding.
The guarantees of KazMunaiGas and KazTransGas have allowed to attract the debt financing for Beyneu-Shymkent Pipeline LLP on more attractive terms on a subsidized interest rate which will allow to decrease the expenditures on remuneration payments by $10 million a year.
“The refinancing of the loan will allow to improve the funding terms of the project and to decrease the time duration of the lending. Thus, considerable financial resources are released from the reserve account and the necessity to sign an agreement on gas transport of the terms ‘transport or par’ is excluded,” the report said.
Furthermore, this loan agreement provides for a significant KazTransGas’s debt relief. The refinancing of the loan by attracting tenge denominated loan funds for the minimization of the currency risk is planned in the future.
Beyneu-Shymkent Pipeline LLP is a joint venture of KazTransGas JSC and Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline Co. Ltd.
(1 USD = 387.05 KTZ on August 16)
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