Bank of China contributes to $330 million syndicated loan for Phase 1 of Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery Project (Linked to Record ID#38633, #67852, #70235)

Project narrative

On March 4, 2014, five banks (including Bank DBS Indonesia, OCBC Limited, Bank OCBC NISP, DBS Bank Limited, and the Jakarta Branch of Bank of China) signed a $330 million syndicated loan for PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery (PT WHW) — a special purpose vehicle and joint venture of Harita Group (30%), China Hongqiao Group (56%), Winning Investment Co. (9%), Shandong Weiqiao Aluminum and Electricity Co. Ltd. (5%) (see Record ID#38633) — for Phase 1 of Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery Project. Bank of China acted as lead arranger. PT Bank DBS Indonesia acted as the agent for the loan. The loan carried the following terms: a 1 year maturity, an interest rate of 6-month LIBOR (.331% in March 2014) plus a 3.55% margin for local lenders and 3.25% for foreign lenders. The borrower had the option of increasing the face value of the loan by an additional $400 million. The purpose of this project was to expand a smelter-grade alumina plant and construct a three-unit, 80-MW coal-fired power plant (to power the smelter) in Kendawangan District, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan Province (exact locational coordinates: -2.3661823,110.1572717). Upon completion, the smelter was expected to have a production capacity of 2 million tons per year and process bauxite into aluminum. Phase 1 sought to achieve a production capacity of 1 million tons per year and Phase 2 sought to achieve a production capacity of an additional 1 million tons per year. PT Cita Mineral Investindo, a subsidiary of the Harita Group, was responsible for implementation. Construction began in July 2013 and the first phase was completed and officially put into production on May 21, 2016. Bank of China and China Eximbank also supported the second phase of this project (see Record ID#67852 and ID#70235).