China Development Bank contributes $600 million to $692 million syndicated buyer’s credit loan for 600MW Thang Long Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Project

In October 2014, Thang Long Thermal Power Joint Stock Company— a project company that is owned by Hanoi Export-Import Company (Geleximco Group)— signed a $692 million syndicated buyer’s credit loan (BCL) agreement with a group of banks (including China Development Bank) for the 600MW Thang Long Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Project. China Development Bank (CDB) contributed approximately $600 million to the loan. The other syndicate participants and their contributions are unknown. The borrowing terms of the loan are also unknown. Sinosure provided $919 million of buyer’s credit insurance to cover the principal and interest of the loan. The Vietnam Ministry of Finance also issued a sovereign guarantee on December 21, 2011. The loan proceeds were to be used by the borrower to partially finance a $645 million EPC contract signed on December 29, 2010 with Wuhan Kaidi Electric Power Engineering Co., Ltd. This $800 million Independent Power Project (IPP) was financed according to a debt-to-equity ratio of 80:20. Geleximco Group made a $160 million equity contribution. The purpose of the project was to construct a 600MW coal-fired power plant — with two, 300MW power generation units (Unit 1 and Unit 1) — in Lê Lợi commune, Hoành Bồ district, and Quảng Ninh province (exact locational coordinates: 21.02184, 107.04815). Construction began in October 2014. In August 2015, French firm Alstom was awarded a sub-contract to supply two circulating-fluidized-bed boilers. In June 2017, plans were finalized to build a 500 kV power line to connect the plant to the grid. Unit 1 was completed on May 13, 2018. Unit 2 was completed on July 29, 2018. In August 2020, it was reported that An Binh Energy and Infrastructure Fund had acquired a 45% indirect ownership stake in the power plant with an investment of $155 million.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the 620MW Thang Long Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Project. The Vietnamese project title is Nhà máy nhiệt điện Thăng Long GELEXIMCO or Nhà máy nhiệt điện Thăng Long. The Chinese project title is 越南升龙燃煤火电厂 EPC 项目 or 越南沿海火电 EPC 项目 or 能建建设的越南升龙项目 or 越南升龙燃煤火电厂. 2. Thang Long Thermal Power Joint Stock Company is also known as Thang Long Thermal Power JSC or 升龙热电股份有限公司 or Công ty CP Nhiệt điện Thăng Long. 3. The CDB loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020. 4. According to an IFLR 1000 2017 report (see source #82143), CDB contributed just $580 million (PDF p. 34), not $600 million. This issue warrants further investigation.

Number of official sources

7

Number of total sources

25