China Eximbank provides RMB 73.5 million governmental concessional loan for Textile Factory Project (Linked to Project ID#73357, #73365, and #73366)

On June 18, 1998, the Chinese Government and the Government of Benin signed an RMB 150 million preferential loan framework agreement for the Textile Factory Project. Under the terms of this agreement, a Chinese state-owned company, China Textile Industry Foreign Economic and Technical Cooperation Company (CTEXIC), and a Beninese state-owned company, Société des Industries Textiles du Bénin (SITEX), agreed to create a joint venture called Compagnie Béninoise de Textile (CBT).Rather than issuing a single RMB 150 million loan to CBT, the Export-Import Bank of China issued one loan to the Government of Benin (on behalf of SITEX) and another loan to CTEXIC (See: Bank Provides Loan to Benin). The face values of these loans, which sum to RMB 150 million, were issued in proportion to the SITEX ownership stake (49%) and CTEXIC ownership stake (51%) in CBT (See: DECRET NO 2000-238 and China & Africa: Assessing the Relationship on the Eve of the Fourth Forum on China Africa Co-operation (FOCAC IV)).On January 13, 2000, China Eximbank and La Caisse Autonome d'Amortissement du Bénin (a public sector institution supervised by Benin’s Ministry of the Economy and Finance) signed an RMB 73.5 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement [China Eximbank GCL NO. (2000) 1 (57)] for the Textile Factory Project (See: DECRET NO 2000-367). This loan carried the following terms: 15-year maturity, 5-year grace period, an interest rate of 3%, a 0.3% commitment fee, and a 0.25% management fee (See: DECRET NO 2000-238). The borrower agreed to deposit project-related revenues in a special account to facilitate repayment. Project ID#18 captures the loan that was issued to La Caisse Autonome d'Amortissement du Bénin.In March 2000, China Eximbank and CTEXIC signed an RMB 76.5 million loan agreement for the Textile Factory Project (See: Sino-Benin Joint Venture Expanded and Bank Provides Loan to Benin). The borrowing terms of this loan are unknown. Project ID#73357 captures the loan that was issued to CTEXIC.This project supported the construction, operation and management of a textile factory in the city of Lokassa called Compagnie Béninoise de Textile (CBT). The main factory building was designed with 24,000 cotton spindles and 768 weaving looms. It was built to achieve a production capacity of 13.7 million meters of unbleached cotton fabric and 923 tons of pure cotton yarn. The factory was put into production on 31 October, 2002 (See: 中贝合作成果展示).CBT subsequently encountered financial problems and China Eximbank had to reschedule its loans with La Caisse Autonome d'Amortissement du Bénin and CTEXIC. China Eximbank reportedly rescheduled its loan to La Caisse Autonome d'Amortissement du Bénin in 2004 and its loan to CTEXIC on 23 August, 2011 (See: 贝宁项目优贷补充协议签署). The terms of the 2004 rescheduling are unknown; however, it is known that the 2011 rescheduling resulted in a reduction of the loan’s interest rate to 1% (See: 贝宁项目优贷补充协议签署). The 2004 loan restructuring is captured in Project ID#73365, and the 2011 restructuring is captured in Project ID#73366.As of 2018, SITEX had gone bankrupt and was looking to restructure, but the CBT factory was in production with 1200 employees (5 of whom were Chinese and 1,995 of whom were Beninese) (See: 彭惊涛大使考察中贝合资企业-贝宁纺织公司（CBT) and Bénin : la société Sitex bientôt restructurée).

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 中贝合资贝宁纺织公司控股项目 or 洛科萨纺织厂. The French project title is Financement Partiel de la Création de la Compagnie Béninoise des Textiles/CBT.2. Neither the RMB 73.5 million loan that China Eximbank issued to La Caisse Autonome d'Amortissement du Bénin nor the RMB 76.5 million loan that China Eximbank issued to CTEXIC are included in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020.3. The loan agreement that China Eximbank issued to La Caisse Autonome d'Amortissement du Bénin can be accessed in its entirety via https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20484909-ben_2000_524.

Number of official sources

19

Number of unofficial sources

11