Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On December 17, 2012, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of six banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $170.33 million AUD ($179.58 million USD) syndicated bank debt facility agreement with DBNGP Finance Co Pty Ltd — a special purpose and financing vehicle and a joint venture of DUET Group (80% equity stake) and Alcoa of Australia Limited (20% equity stake) — for the 2012 Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) Refinancing Project. This loan carried a maturity period of four years. This debt facility, like all DBP's debt, was senior secured, ranked pari-passu, and was guaranteed by DBNGP Holdings Pty Ltd and its subsidiaries. The security (collateral) was via fixed and floating charges over the DBNGP assets. The proceeds of this syndicated bank debt facility were to be used to repay the maturing term debt in 2013 and other debt facilities of DBP Transmission, the group of special purpose vehicles that own and operate the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP). The DBNGP is the only natural gas pipeline connecting the Carnarvon Basin on Western Australia’s North-west Shelf to industrial, commercial and residential customers in Perth and its surrounding region. The pipeline runs from the Burrup Peninsula, near Dampier, to Bunbury in the south-west of Western Australia. BOC contributed $44.09 million AUD ($46.48 million USD) to this syndicated loan. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed the following amounts to this syndicated loan: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) ($20.04 million AUD; $21.13 million USD), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) ($22.04 million AUD; $23.24 million USD), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) ($40.08 million AUD; $42.25 million USD), Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Ltd. (HNCB) ($22.04 million AUD; $23.24 million USD), and Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) ($22.04 million AUD; $23.24 million USD).