Agricultural Bank of China contributes $34.38 million USD to a $1.65 billion USD syndicated loan to Dubai Ports International to finance its acquisition of CSX World Terminals LLC (Linked to Record ID#106219, #106220, #106221, and #106222)

Project narrative

On February 22, 2005, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 62 banks — including the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB), the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited (ICBC (Asia)), and Nanyang Commercial Bank (NCB) — entered into a $1.650 billion USD syndicated loan agreement with Dubai Ports International FZE (DPI) — the investment arm of the state-owned Dubai Ports Authority of the Government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates — to finance its acquisition of CSX World Terminals LLC (CSXWT), the international terminal business conducted of CSX Corporation. This loan carried a maturity period of three years and a final maturity date of February 22, 2008 and a bullet repayment profile. In addition to the five Chinese state-owned banks, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Ahli United Bank, Allied Irish Banks (AIB), Bank of East Asia Limited (BEA), Bank of Ireland, Barclays Bank Plc, Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB), BNP Paribas S.A., Citigroup, KfW, Commerzbank AG, Calyon, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Deutsche Bank, DnB NOR Bank, DZ Bank AG, Emirates Bank, First Gulf Bank (FGB), Fortis Bank, Gulf International Bank B.S.C. (GIB), HSH Nordbank AG, HSBC Bank, IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, Sanpaolo IMI S.p.A., Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), Lloyds TSB Bank PLC, Mashreqbank PSC, Mizuho Bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU), Natexis Banques Populaires, National Bank of Dubai PJSC (NBD), Landesbank Sachsen Aktiengesellschaft (SachenLB), Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank), Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking (SGCIB), Standard Chartered Bank plc, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Banca di Roma, HypoVereinsbank (HVB), United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB), WestLB AG, International Commercial Bank of China, Abu Dhabi Investment Company, State Bank of India (SBI), Arab Bank, Banca Intesa, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS), Bank of Taiwan, Cathay United Bank, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank, First Commercial Bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank (HNCB), Maybank, Kommunalkredit Austria, Nanyang Commercial Bank, National Bank of Egypt (NBE), and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich A.G. (RZB). Each of the 49 lead arrangers committed $34.38 million USD to the loan syndicate. ABC, BOC, CCB, ICBC (Asia) ABN AMRO Bank, Abu Dhabi Investment Co, Ahli United Bank, AIB, Banca di Roma, BEA, Bank of Ireland, Scotiabank, BTMU, Barclays, BayernLB, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Citigroup, Commerzbank, DnB NOR Bank, DBS Bank, DZ Bank, Emirates Bank, FGB, Fortis Bank, GIB, HSBC, HSH Nordbank, HVB, IKB Deutsche Industriebank, International Commercial Bank of China, KfW, KEB, Lloyds TSB, Mashreqbank, Mizuho, Natexis Banques Populaires, NBD, SachsenLB, Sanpaolo IMI, SGCIB, SMBC, Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), UOL, and WestLB served as arrangers. The commitments of the co-arrangers, syndicated from the lead arrangers are unknown. NCB, Arab Bank, Banca Intesa, BMPS, Bank of Taiwan, Cathay United Bank, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank, First Commercial Bank, HNCB, Maybank, Kommunalkredit Austria, NBE, and RZB served as co-arrangers. Record ID#106218 captures ABC's $34.38 million USD commitment. Record ID#106219 captures BOC's $34.38 million USD commitment. Record ID#106220 captures CCB's $34.38 million USD commitment. Record ID#106221 captures ICBC (Asia)'s $34.38 million USD commitment. Record ID#106222 captures NCB's unknown commitment. Deutsche Bank served as underwriter and mandated lead arranger. The loan was launched at $1.45 billion USD before being oversubscribed and increased to $1.65 billion USD. CSXWT was leading international container terminal developer and operator with operations in Asia, Europe, Australia, and Latin America, operating nine terminals with 24 berths and combined future capacity of 14.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) and with future development projects, including CT3 and CT8 in Hong Kong, Tianjin and Yantai in China, operations in Australia, Germany, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. CSXWT had a 25% interest in and operatorship of Pusan Newport in South Korea, a 9-berth facility with capacity of 5.5 million TEU then under development and commence operations in 2006. CSXWT also had interests in logistics businesses in Hong Kong and China, including ATL, the market leading logistics operator based at Kwai Chung. On December 8, 2004, DPI signed the definitive agreement with Florida-based American rail company CSX Corporation to acquire CSXWT and other related interests for a cash consideration of $1.15 billion USD.The acquisition was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2005. The acquisition was completed on February 22, 2005.