Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On or around November 7, 2022, a syndicate of 15 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB), and and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $850 million AUD ($551 million USD) syndicated loan agreement with QPH Finance Co. Pty. Ltd. — an Australia-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) and the financing arm of Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL), which owns and operates the Port of Brisbane on a 99-year lease; QPH is owned by the APH Consortium consisting of the following four owners: IFM Investors Pty Ltd. on behalf of itself and its managed and advised funds (26.67% equity stake), Tawreed Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) (19.99% equity stake), QIC Private Capital Pty Ltd on behalf of its managed funds (26.67% equity stake), and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) (26.67% equity stake) — for unspecified purposes. This loan consisted of several tranches, with portions having maturity periods ranging from a minimum of three years to a maximum of 14 years. There was a $400 million AUD ($267 million USD) portion with two tranches, one with a maturity period of 10 years with an interest rate of BBSY plus 175 basis points (bps) and one with a maturity period of 12 years with an interest rate of 195 bps. Record ID#108800 captures BOC's contribution to the $400 million AUD loan. Record ID#108801 captures ABC's contribution. Record ID#111088 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to the Chinese state-owned banks, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: MUFG Bank, Ltd., National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), Daido Life Insurance, E.SUN Commercial Bank, Ltd., First Commercial Bank Limited, Fubon Bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Ltd. (HNCB), Mega International Commercial Bank Co., Ltd., Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, and Westbourne Capital Pty Limited. MUFG and NAB were mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and underwriters, with the other lenders joining in syndication In June 2023, it was announced that $500 million AUD of the loan had been converted into a sustainability-linked loan as provided by a syndicate of 10 lenders, split across a $240 million AUD tranche with a maturity period of four years and a $260 million AUD tranche with a maturity period of six years. The loan was executed under the Port of Brisbane's Sustainability Financing Framework and was linked to three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): emissions reductions of scope 1 and 2 emissions periodically to below 8,702 tCO2e by fiscal year 2026 (from an fiscal year 2022 baseline of 12,289 tCO2e); biodiversity via rehabilitation of 10 hectares of land in aggregate across fiscal year 2024, fiscal year 2025, and fiscal year 2026; and mental health first aid to achieve Tier 2 (Advanced Workplace) status given by Mental Health First Aid Australia by fiscal year 2025. If the borrower met the KPIs, the financing cost of the loan would be reduced.
Staff comments
1. One source (the archived shot from PFIE's "Inflation reduction acts" article) claims that the lenders to the $850 million AUD loan signed in November 2023 were BOC, China Construction Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Export Development Canada, MUFG, National Australia Bank, ING Group, OCBC Bank, and Westpac. It is unclear whether this was part of the loan (i.e. the other tranches), an entirely separate loan (unlikely, given no mention in the public-facing statements), or simply incorrect information. This issue merits further investigation. 2. While the contributions of the Chinese banks are known, the contributions to the tranches is unknown. AidData has assumed each lender contributed to each tranche, and has taken the average of the maturity periods of the tranches {[(10 + 12) / 2] = 6 years} and reference rates {[(1.75% + 1.95%) / 2] = 1.85%} to code as the maturity and reference rate of this record. 3. The individual contributions of the 15 lenders to this $400 million AUD syndicated loan are unknown. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of the Chinese state-owned banks by assuming each contributed an equal amount ($26,666,666.6667 AUD) to the loan syndicate.