Bank of China contributes to $140 million syndicated loan facility for 100MW Sihanoukville Coal-Fired Power Plant Project

On February 10, 2010, OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Maybank, AmBank, and Bank of China signed a $140 million syndicated term loan agreement with Cambodian Energy Limited (CEL) — a special purpose vehicle and joint venture between Leader (Cambodia) Limited (80% ownership stake) and Cambodia International Investment Development Group Co. Ltd (20% ownership stake) — for the 100MW Sihanoukville Coal-Fired Power Plant Project. Leader (Cambodia) Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leader Infrastructure (Labuan) Limited, which is itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leader Universal Holdings Berhad. The syndicated term loan carried a 7-year maturity (from the date of the 1st drawdown and with an option to extend for another 2 years at the lenders' sole discretion). OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad was the sole book-runner and one of the mandated joint lead arrangers of the loan. The other mandated joint lead arranger was Maybank, while AmBank (M) Bhd and Bank of China were joint lead managers. The proceeds of the loan were to be used by the borrower to finance a turnkey (commercial) contract that China Huadian Engineering Co and CEL signed in December 2009. The total cost of the 100MW Sihanoukville Coal-Fired Power Plant Project was $170 million and the remaining $30 million was provided via equity contributions from Leader Universal Holdings Berhad, and Cambodia International Investment Development Group Co. Ltd. Leader Universal Holdings Berhad also provided a corporate guarantee as part of the security arrangements and requirements under the syndicated term loan facility. The purpose of the project was to install two 50MW coal-fired generating units and other ancillary facilities at the Sihanoukville CEL power station (Cambodia's first coal-fired power plant) in Steung Hav District and Preah Sihanouk (Sihanoukville) Province. Construction started on November 29, 2010. The two 50MW coal-fired generating units came online in November 2014 and March 2015, respectively. This project built to comply with World Bank-IFC environmental standards, and it was implemented on a 30-year, build-own-operate (BOO) basis.

Additional details

1, The individual contribution that Bank of China made to the syndicated loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of Bank of China by assuming that the four lenders contributed equal amounts ($35 million) to the $140 million loan syndicate. 2. This project is also known as the Sihanoukville CEL I Power Station Project. The Chinese project title is 柬埔寨西哈努克省燃煤发电厂. 3. This project should not be confused with the 240 MW Coal Fired Power Plant in Sihanoukville (run by Cambodia International Investment Development Group Co. Ltd.) or the 135 MW Coal Fired Power Plant in Sihanoukville (also run by Cambodia International Investment Development Group Co. Ltd). 4. Note that Cambodian Energy Limited II (CEL II) constructed another power plant under an EPC turnkey contract with Toshiba Power Systems Co. on a project site that is immediately adjacent to the site o the 100MW Sihanoukville Coal-Fired Power Plant Project run by CEL. The CEL II power plant was successfully completed and achieved commercial operation in April 2020.

Number of official sources

9

Number of total sources

16