ICBC contributes to first tranche of syndicated loan to Compañía General de Combustibles worth $100 million (Linked to Project ID#97368)

On August 2, 2021, ICBC entered into a syndicated loan agreement with the Argentinian Compañía General de Combustibles worth $115 million. The syndicate consisted of seven banks: ICBC, Banco Santander Río S.A., Citibank, N.A.'s Argentina branch, Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires S.A.U., Banco Itaú Argentina S.A., Banco Macro S.A. and Banco de Valores S.A. ICBC served as the administrative agent, and Banco Itaú Argentina S.A. as the hedging manager. It was a working capital loan repayable in two equal installments -- payable 12 and 18 months from the disbursement date, respectively -- on August 3, 2022 and on February 3, 2023. The funds disbursed under the loan were to accrue an annual nominal interest rate of 8.50%, for the unhedged, $100 million tranche (as captured via Project ID#97358), and 7.00% nominal annual interest for the covered, $15 million tranche (as captured via Project ID#97368). Interest was to be paid quarterly. The loan was fully disbursed on August 3, 2021. The loan was to be used by the borrower to refinance CGC's debts, with the rest being allocated to working capital, investments, and general corporate uses. The company was also authorized to use these funds to refinance a loan of $100 million with a Libor rate plus 9% (9.159%) that it received from Eurobanco Bank. CGC had already used a portion of the proceeds of the 2021 syndicated loan in U.S. dollars to prepay a 2020 syndicated loan in Argentine pesos.

Additional details

1. The precise size of ICBC's contribution to the loan syndicate is unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes equal contributions across the seven members of the syndicate. 2. On July 1, 2021, CGC bought the operations of Sinopec Argentina Exploration and Production to increase its oil production in Patagonia, a goal it had been pursuing for a couple of years. With this acquisition, it sought to increase its production to more than 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed). In this way, its portfolio was expected to be balanced at 63% gas and 37% crude, whereas before the operation it was 85% and 15% respectively. The purchase of the assets of Sinopec Argentina Exploration and Production was also expected to allow it to increase its proven reserves by more than 50% to 90 million barrels of crude oil equivalent, from the current 59 million. The operation was expected add to CGG areas in the San Jorge and Cuyana Gulf Basins equivalent to an area of ​​4,600 square kilometers. In turn, it was expected to gain a stake in Termap, the operator of the port terminals of Caleta Olivia (Santa Cruz) and Caleta Córdova (Chubut).

Number of official sources

3

Number of total sources

8