China Merchants Bank Leasing (CMBL) has agreed an underwritten financing commitment that will provide Golar LNG Ltd with $216m in financing for its new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Golar Tundra, which is due for delivery in December.
CMBL will also provide another loan facility with which to refinance the existing $156m debt attached to Golar LNG Partners’ FSRU Golar Eskimo.
The firm Golar Tundra loan has a 16-year tenor and has been arranged on a charter-free basis, Golar said, at an all-in cost of less than 6% at current 10-year interest rate swap levels. What is more, Golar said today it expects the amount loaned by the facility and its profile to increase.
“On the current charter free basis the facility will finance a minimum of $50m more than the final delivery payment to the ship yard thereby releasing this additional cash to Golar,” the company explained in a statement today.
The FSRU will eventually be sold to the company’s limited-partnership affiliate Golar LNG Partners.
The Golar Eskimo facility will also provide around $100m with which to pay the remaining $100m balance of the FSRU’s vendor financing facility provided by Golar.
“This joint financing for Tundra and Eskimo will therefore release approximately $150m in cash that can be used to augment Golar’s existing liquidity position,” the company said.
