ICBC contributes to $391 million syndicated loan for Pamplona-Cúcuta 4G Dual-Carriageway Highway Project (Linked to Project ID#92571)

On April 16, 2020, Unión Vial Río Pamplonita, S.A.S. — a special purpose vehicle and wholly-owned subsidiary of Sacyr S.A. — signed a $525 million (EUR 474 million) syndicated loan agreement for the Pamplona-Cúcuta 4G Dual-Carriageway Highway Project. Sacyr S.A. is a Spanish construction company based in Madrid. 10 financial institutions participated in the lending syndicate: JPMorgan Chase Bank; Deutsche Bank AG, NY Branch; Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Dubai Branch; Bank of China, Panama Branch; Instituto de Crédito Oficial de España (ICO); MetLife; MUFG Bank; Societe Generale; American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company; and Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN). The loan was issued in two tranches: (1) a $391 million, US dollar-denominated tranche with a final maturity date of June 30, 2022 and an interest rate of 1-month LIBOR plus a 2.75% margin; and (2) and a Ps245 billion, Colombian peso-denominated tranche with a final maturity date of June 30, 2022 and an interest rate benchmarked against the CPI plus 7.40%. The amount drawn on both loan tranches as of December 31, 2020 was EUR 184 million. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. However, it is known that ICBC (Project ID#92572), Bank of China (Project ID#92571), and seven other foreign lenders contributed to the US dollar-denominated tranche, while FDN led the Colombian peso-denominated tranche. FDN awarded the concession for this $765 million public-private partnership (PPP) project to Sacyr S.A. in April 2017. The project is located in the department of North Santander. It involves 50.2 km of new road construction, 72.2 km of existing road rehabilitation (between Pamplona and a section of Betania, Los Patios), the construction of two tunnels (measuring 1.4 km and 1.1 km), the construction of 25 new viaducts and 4 pedestrian passageways, and the rehabilitation of 23 existing bridges. Upon completion, the Pamplona-Cúcuta 4G dual-carriageway highway will pass through the northeast region of Colombia and on to the border with Venezuela. It is intended to reduce travel times and operating costs for users, thereby guaranteeing a quicker and safer road corridor. The first loan disbursement took place on April 16, 2020. The first tunnel was opened on August 4, 2022. At that time, the project was reportedly over 70% complete.

Additional details

1. The financial close date was March 18, 2020, but the loan signature date was April 16, 2020. 2. Colombia’s national infrastructure agency (ANI) tried to award Pamplona-Cúcuta highway project in 2016 and received no proposals for the project in an initial tender process. It then relaunched the tender redesigning the concession contract to make it more attractive. 3. Bank of China and ICBC’s precise contributions to the lending syndicate are unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes equal contributions ($43.44 million) across the 9 lenders that contributed to the $391 million loan tranche. 4. The all-in interest rate was calculated by adding 2.75% to the average, 1-month LIBOR rate in April 2020 (0.684%). 5. AidData has coded this transaction as a collateralized loan because Citibank served as the collateral agent (i.e. security agent) for the loan. When lenders take collateral as security for their loans, a collateral/security agent is often appointed to enforce rights against the collateral in the event of the borrower's default under the loan. Citibank acted as an administrative agent, foreign guarantees agent, and creditors agent.

Number of official sources

10

Number of total sources

16