Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On January 28, 2014, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 11 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $745.0 million AUD ($650 million USD) syndicated bank facility agreement with DBNGP Finance Co Pty Ltd — a special purpose and financing vehicle for DBP Transmission, the group of special purpose vehicles that own and operate the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) that is a joint venture of DUET Group (80% equity stake) and Alcoa of Australia Limited (20% equity stake) — for the 2014 Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) Refinancing Project. This syndicated facility was divided into three tranches: a $225 million AUD revolving credit facility (RCF) with a maturity period of three years and a final maturity date of January 2017; a $225 million AUD RCF with a maturity period of four years and a final maturity date of January 2018; and $295 million AUD term loan tranche with a maturity period of five years and a final maturity date of January 2019. The proceeds of the $745 million AUD facility were used to refinance $350 million AUD of a $400 million AUD debt facility maturing in October 2014 and other longer dated higher priced debt facilities. This syndicated loan, 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 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. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the syndicated loan: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Ltd. (HNCB), Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU), National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), Westpac Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Financial Group. Linked Record ID#93806 captures BOC's contribution to the three-year $225 million AUD RCF tranche. Linked Record ID#93809 captures BOC's contribution to the four-year $225 million AUD RCF tranche. Linked Record ID#93810 captures BOC's contribution to the $295 million AUD five-year term loan tranche.
Staff comments
1. The individual contribution of the 11 lenders to the five-year $295 million AUD term loan tranche of the $745.0 million AUD syndicated loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of BOC by assuming that each lender contributed an equal amount ($26,818,181.8182 AUD) to the tranche. 2. AidData has coded project_status field as Implementation as Page 96 of "DUET Group Annual Report 2014" describes a portion of proceeds of this loan as having "have been applied." 3. "Dampier to Bunbury Pipeline (DBNGP) Refinancing 2013" suggests the loan reached financial close on December 20, 2013 and reported slightly smaller figures for each loan tranche and the total face value of the loan; however, DUET Group, the majority owner of DBNGP Finance Co Pty Ltd, reported, in "DUET Group Annual Report 2014" reports January 28, 2014 and $745.0 million AUD, $225 million AUD, $225 million AUD, and $295 million AUD for the financial close date, total face value, and tranche face values.