Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On November 16, 2011, the Export-Import Bank of China entered into a $400 million USD loan agreement with Crown Hera, Ltd. — a wholly owned subsidiary of Crownship Ltd., which was owned by Sinopacific, a privately-owned shipbuilding company based in Jiangsu, China — to facilitate the acquisition of 62 ships from Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group by Bourbon Group, a French shipping company based in Marseilles, France. The proceeds were used by Crown Hera, Ltd. to help Bourbon Group partially finance the purchase of vessels from Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group, which were then intended for use by Bourbon Corporation as part of their offshore marine services operations. This acquisition was part of a broader strategy by Bourbon Corporation to enhance their fleet capabilities. The rest of acquisition is covered by the selling of 16 bulk carriers by Bourbon Group. The maturity of the loan is 12 years. Bourbon Group provided China Exim Bank with a repayment guarantee for the loan, which then allows Crownship Ltd. to grant the group particularly favorable payment terms. This guarantee, whose implementation was related to the receipt of various pledges granted by companies in the Sinopacific group in favor of Bourbon, came into force also on November 16, 2011. As of December 31, 2012, the disbursed and outstanding debt amounted to $207 million. As of December 31, 2013, the disbursed and outstanding debt was $270.3 million USD. As of 2013, Sinopacific has delivered nearly 30 OSV ships and 3 SPP35 ships to Bourbon Group.
Staff comments
1. Bourbon Group is a French shipping company that operates in the field of surface and submarine maritime services, on oil, gas and wind farms. The company has 6,820 employees, and the group is present in more than 30 countries. 2. In mid-2017, the offshore market crisis continued and led Bourbon to sign a debt restructuring agreement with its creditor banks in mid-2017. In 2018, in agreement with its shareholders, it announced suspended rent payments and debt servicing pending ongoing negotiations with lessors and creditors. Then, the shareholders authorized it to postpone for one year an interest payment of approximately 3.9 million euros due in April 2018. On July 25, 2019, the Corporation requested the opening of a judicial recovery procedure due to the guarantee calls of ICBC Leasing, which leased the company vessels and had a repayment guarantee. ICBC Leasing, Minsheng Leasing and China Eximbank's debts will be dealt with first because these are guaranteed debts. In December 2019, the group was taken over by the Court. On January 10, 2020, Société Phocéenne de Participation (SPP), representing 75% of the group's debt, acquires 100% of the assets of Bourbon Corporation and becomes the group's new majority shareholder. It is unclear if and how much the debt to China Eximbank is suspended. This issue warrants more research. 3. In June 2010, China Eximbank, together with the SinoPacific Shipbuilding Group and the Bourbon Group of France, signed an $800 million financing framework agreement. It is suggested that this $400 million loan may be a subsidiary agreement under this larger framework, although further research is required to confirm this relationship.