ICBC contributes $73.33 million to $220 million syndicated loan with Transportadora de Gas del Norte S.A. to redeem corporate bonds

On October 26, 2017, Transportadora de Gas del Norte S.A. (TGN) signed a $220 million syndicated loan agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (Dubai Branch), Citibank N.A., and Itaú Unibanco S.A. (Nassau Branch). The loan carried a 3-year maturity an an annual interest rate of LIBOR plus a 4% margin. The company obtained this loan to redeem corporate bonds. Consequently, on November 13, 2017, TGN made an early redemption of all the corporate bonds outstanding at an incremental rate, and all its 5-year corporate bonds, for a total of $208.3 million (including principal and interest). The borrower made principal repayments worth $110 million and interest payments worth $14.6 million during calendar year 2019 and it planned to make two final principal repayments (each worth $55 million) in April 2020 and October 2020, respectively. As of December 31, 2019, the loan’s outstanding amount (principal balance) was $110 million.

Additional details

1. The respective financial contributions of ICBC, Citibank N.A., and Itaú Unibanco S.A. (Nassau Branch) are unknown, so AidData assumes equal contributions ($73.33 million) for the time being. 2. The China-Latin America Commercial Loans Tracker, which is produced by the Inter-American Dialogue, does not capture this ICBC loan. 3. Transportadora de Gas del Sur was established on December 28, 1992 after the privatization of the Argentine energy sector. It was part of Gas del Estado, a government regulated company divided later into Transportadora de Gas del Sur and Transportadora de Gas del Norte. Transportadora de Gas del Norte SA now operates two gas pipeline companies, connecting two major fields in northern and central western Argentina with distributors in the north and central regions of the country. It transports about one-third of the natural gas consumed in Argentina. 4. AidData has estimated the all-interest rate by adding 4% to the average 6-month LIBOR rate in October 2017 (1.542%).

Number of official sources

2

Number of total sources

4