Agricultural Bank of China contributes $26 million to $106 million syndicated buyer’s credit for General San Martin Railway Renovation Project (Linked to Project ID#69022)

In 2007, the Ministry of Economy and Production of Argentina signed a $106,087,958.55 syndicated buyer’s credit facility (loan) agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), ABN AMRO Bank, and the Agricultural Bank of China to buy supplies for the General San Martin Railway Renovation Project. Project ID#69022 captures ICBC’s $60,000,000 contribution to the syndicated loan. Project ID#69024 captures the Agricultural Bank of China’s $26,087,958.55 contribution to the syndicated loan. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. — a Dutch bank — contributed $20,000,00 to the syndicated loan. The loan carried the following borrowing terms: an interest rate of LIBOR plus a 0.95% margin, a default (penalty) interest rate of 1%, an 8 year maturity, a 0.25% commitment fee, and a 0.25% management fee. The borrower also purchased a credit insurance policy from Sinosure. The borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to finance a commercial contract between the Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Service the Republic of Argentina and China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corp., Shanghai Golden Source International Economic and Trade Development Co. Ltd., and CSR Qishuyan Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works (Sifang), which was signed on August 25, 2006 and amended on May 11, 2007. The purpose of the project was to acquire passenger cars, spare parts, tools, technical services, and technical training for use by the General San Martín Railway (El Ferrocarril General San Martín or FCGSM). China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corp., Shanghai Golden Source International Economic and Trade Development Co. Ltd., and CSR Qishuyan Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works (Sifang) were the contractors responsible for project implementation. The acquired goods and services were put into use on October 24, 2013 on a section of railway that runs between Retiro station and José C Paz station.

Additional details

1. The loan agreement can be accessed in its entirety via https://www.dropbox.com/s/oav0t9a43cbqjgh/anexo_00397263_3.pdf?dl=0. 2. The calendar day on which of the loan agreement was issued is is unknown (as it was redacted from the loan agreement). 3. The China-Latin America Commercial Loans Tracker, which is produced by the Inter-American Dialogue, does not capture the ICBC loan that supported this project. 4. AidData has estimated the all-in interest rate (6.201%) by adding 0.95% to average 6-month LIBOR in 2007 (5.251%).

Number of official sources

6

Number of total sources

10