Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On April 28, 2015, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 28 lenders — including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $4.61679 billion USD syndicated loan agreement with FLNG Liquefaction 3, LLC (FLIQ3) — a Delaware-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) wholly-owned by Texas-incorporated SPV FLIQ3 Holdings, LLC, wholly-owned Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P., a Delaware-incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of Delaware-incorporated American liquefied natural gas developer Freeport LNG Development, L.P. (FLEX) — for Train 3 of the Freeport LNG Project. This debt was divided into three tranches: a $3.64179 billion USD mini-perm senior term loan tranche, a $50.00 million USD working capital tranche, and a $925.00 million USD mezzanine debt tranche. The term loan and working capital tranches carried a maturity period of seven years, a final maturity date of April 28, 2022, and an interest rate of LIBOR plus an initial margin of 175 basis points (bps), rising to 200 bps upon the start of operations of the project. ICBC contributed $112.00 million USD to the $3.64179 billion USD term loan tranche, as captured by Record ID#107592. ICBC contributed $1.54 million USD to the $50 million USD working capital tranche, as captured by Record ID#107593. The proceeds were used by the borrower to finance the development of the 4.64 million tons per annum (mtpa) third liquefaction train of the Freeport LNG Project, a 13.2 mtpa three-liquefaction train complex and export terminal on Quintana Island on the Gulf Coast, south of Freeport in Brazoria County, Texas, about 70 miles south of Houston. The project used Air Products’ C3MR (AP-C3MR™) propane-precooled mixed-refrigerant liquefaction process and powered all trains with General Electric's 75 MW motors with variable frequency drives. The Freeport LNG Project was a conversion of an import facility to an export one due to the shale revolution in the United States. On May 27, 2020, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 18 lenders — including the Bank of China (BOC) and ICBC — entered into a $3.405 billion USD syndicated loan agreement with FLNG Liquefaction 3, LLC (FLIQ3) for the Train 3 of Freeport LNG 2020 Refinancing Project. This loan was divided into four tranches: a $2.424 billion USD term loan tranche, $750.00 million USD term loan tranche, $181.00 million USD debt service reserve facility tranche, and $50.00 million USD working capital tranche. This loan carried a maturity period of seven years and a final maturity date of May 27, 2027. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to repay a portion of outstanding debt for Train 3 of the Freeport LNG Project. BOC contributed $33 million USD and ICBC contributed $55.05 million USD to the $750 million USD term loan tranche, as captured by Record ID#107596 for BOC and Record ID#107597 for ICBC. BOC contributed $3.67 million USD and ICBC contributed $3.67 million USD to the $50 million USD working capital tranche, as captured by Record ID#107598 for BOC and Record ID#107599 for ICBC. BOC contributed $7.96 million USD and ICBC contributed $13.28 million USD to the $181 million USD debt service reserve facility tranche, as captured by Record ID#107600 for BOC and Record ID#107601 for ICBC. On April 27, 2021, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of at least 24 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) and ICBC — entered into a $1.780 billion USD syndicated loan agreement with FLNG Liquefaction 3, LLC for the Train 3 of Freeport LNG 2021 Refinancing Project. This loan was divided into three tranches: a $1.549 billion USD term loan tranche, a $50.00 million USD working capital tranche, and a $181.00 million USD letter of credit tranche. This loan carried a maturity period of six years and two months (6.178 years) and a final maturity date of June 30, 2027. The proceeds were to be used for the refinancing (repricing) of the existing facilities that supported the construction and operation of Train 3. Each lender, including BOC and ICBC, contributed $64.54 million USD to the $1.549 billion USD term loan tranche, $7.54 million USD to the $50 million USD working capital tranche, and $2.08 million USD to the $181 million USD letter of credit tranche. Record ID#107602 captures BOC's contribution to the $1.549 billion USD term loan tranche. Record ID#107603 captures ICBC's contribution to the $1.549 billion USD term loan tranche. Record ID#107604 captures BOC's contribution to the $50 million USD working capital tranche. Record ID#107605 captures ICBC's contribution to the $50 million USD working capital tranche. AidData does not consider letters of credit to be flows. In addition to BOC and ICBC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Aozora Bank, Banco de Sabadell, S.A. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA), CaixaBank, S.A. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Crédit Agricole Group, HSBC Bank, ING Capital LLC, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., Iyo Bank, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., MUFG Bank, Ltd., National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), Natixis, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Banco Santander, S.A., Shinsei Bank, Siemens Financial Services GmbH, Société Générale S.A. (SocGen), Standard Chartered Bank plc, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and at least one other lender.