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Overview

Bank of China contributes to EUR €265 million syndicated loan with EP Infrastructure for debt repayment for EP Energy purposes in 2019

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$77,016,528
Commitment Year•2019Country of Activity•Czech RepublicDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•Czech RepublicOverseas Jurisdiction•HungarySector•EnergyFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Completion

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
May 21, 2019
Last repayment (originally scheduled)
Nov 17, 2025

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Commercial Banks

  • Bank of China (Central and Eastern Europe) Limited (formerly known as Bank of China (Hungary) Close Ltd.)

Cofinancing agencies

Private Sector

  • Komerční banka, a.s. (KB Bank)
  • SMBC Bank EU AG
  • UniCredit Bank AG

Receiving agencies

Private Sector

  • EP Infrastructure (EPIF)

Loan description

Bank of China contributes to EUR €265 million syndicated loan with EP Infrastructure for debt repayment for EP Energy purposes in the Czech Republic 2019

Interest type•Variable Interest RateMaturity•6.5 years

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

On May 21. 2019, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 4 banks — including Bank of China (Hungary) — entered into a €265 million EUR syndicated loan agreement with EP Infrastructure, a.s. (“EPIF”) — a Czech-based infrastructure holding company primarily active in the gas, electricity, and heat sectors across Central Europe. This loan was divided into two facilities: Facility A (€200 million EUR) maturing on 21 May 2025, and Facility B (€65 million EUR) maturing on 21 May 2026. The interest rate is EURIBOR plus an applicable margin. The proceeds were used by the borrower to finance general corporate purposes, including refinancing of existing debt. Bank of China (Hungary) contributed to this loan (Record ID#109718), as did the following lenders: Komerční banka, SMBC Bank EU AG, and UniCredit.

Staff comments

1. The loan contract is unavailable. 2. EP Infrastructure, a.s. (EPIF) is a Czech-based infrastructure holding company headquartered in Prague. It operates across Central Europe and is involved in gas transmission, electricity distribution, and heat infrastructure. EPIF is part of the EPH Group, a major European energy and infrastructure group. 3. AidData is unable to estimate the interest rate for this loan because the margin to the EURIBOR-based loan is unavailable. 4. AidData estimates the average maturity of the loan by taking the average of the two tranches (6 years and 7 years, respectively). 5. For this loan, contributions were not disclosed. AidData has estimated Bank of China's contribution by assuming equal division among the 4 participating banks: 66250000 Euros.