Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On March 15, 2021, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 13 lenders — including the Bank of China (BOC) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $2.28711 billion AUD ($1.77216 billion USD) syndicated loan agreement with GIP Capricorn FinCo Pty Ltd — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and wholly owned subsidiary of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) — for GIP's Acquisition of a 26.25% Stake in the Curtis Island LNG's Mixed-Use Infrastructure Project. The loan carried a tenor (maturity) of 4 years and 10 months (4.833 years) and a maturity date of February 1, 2026. BOC contributed $166.51 million AUD ($129.02 million USD) and ICBC contributed $171.06 million million AUD ($132.55 million USD) to the loan syndicate. Record ID#95891 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#95892 captures ICBC's contribution. The entire acquisition had a cost of $2.50051 billion AUD ($1.93751 billion USD). It was financed according to a 91-to-9 debt-to-equity ratio; in addition to the $2.287 billion AUD in debt, GIP provided $213.40 million AUD ($165.35 million USD) in equity. The proceeds of this loan were to be used by the borrower to finance the acquisition of a 26.25% equity stake in Royal Dutch Shell's mixed-use infrastructure at the Curtis LNG facility, the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Common Facilities. The sale was initially proposed in June 2020 and drew substantial interest from buyers; the project's storage terminal tanks and 15-year contract to rent to QGC, guaranteed by Tokyo and Gas and CNOOC, were of particular interest. Prospective buyers included GIP, IFM Investors, Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI), Macquarie, and QIC. In October 2020, GIP, IFM, and CKI were shortlisted to submit formal bid. CKI was then dropped leaving a bidding war between GIP and IFM. In December 2020, Shell entered into exclusive negotiations with GIP. The sale was expected to close by the end of 2020 but was delayed because of the sale's complexity. On December 21, 2020, GIP signed the purchase agreement for $2.5 billion AUD with Shell, with financial close delayed until March 2021 due to the Australian regulatory approval process. QGC Common Facilities Company Pty Ltd, Shell's wholly-owned subsidiary, was the specific seller. The sale was completed on March 15, 2021. Then on July 27, 2021, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 13 lenders — including BOC and ICBC — entered into a $2.070 billion USD syndicated debt facilities agreement with GIP Capricorn FinCo Pty Ltd for the 2021 Refinancing of GIP's Acquisition of a 26.25% Stake in the Curtis Island LNG's Mixed-Use Infrastructure Project. The debt consisted of a $1.435 billion USD 13-year commercial bond with a 3.11% coupon and a $635.00 million USD term loan with a maturity period of five years. The proceeds of these debt facilities were to be used by the borrower for the refinancing of the $2.28711 billion AUD syndicated loan entered into the acquisition of of 26.25% interest in the Queensland Curtis Island LNG mixed-use infrastructure. All 13 lenders, including BOC and ICBC, contributed $48.85 million USD to the $635 million USD term loan. Record ID#95893 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#95894 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to BOC and ICBC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), MUFG Bank, Ltd., Mizuho Financial Group, National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), Société Générale S.A. (SocGen), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), BlackRock, BNP Paribas Fortis, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Standard Chartered Bank, and HSBC. The QCLNG Common Facilities are located on Curtis Island near Gladstone, Queensland. The Curtis Island LNG plant liquefies coal seam gas extracted from the Surat Basin from south Queensland to produce to LNG supply domestic and international customers. The plant was originally developed by BG Group and then acquired by Shell in 2015 for $70 billion USD. In addition to the plant, the LNG Project consisted of two LNG trains that were majority owned and operated by QGC; CNOOC owned 50% of Train 1 while Tokyo Gas owned 2.5% of Train 2. The QCLNG Common Facilities included berths, jetties, storage tanks, pipelines, and downstream assets of the liquefier that service QCLNG’s LNG trains. The entire LNG facility has a capacity of 8.5 million tons per annum.