Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On March 28, 2011, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of five banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $800.00 million SGD syndicated loan agreement with Universal Terminal (S) Pte. Ltd. — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and joint venture of Singapore-based conglomerate Universal Group Holdings (Pte.) Ltd. (UGH) (a holding company for the Lim family, owners of the Hin Leong Group) (65% equity stake) and PetroChina International (Singapore) Pte Ltd (35% equity) — for the Jurong Universal Terminal Oil Storage 2011 Refinancing Project. This loan carried a maturity period of four years, an interest rate of SOR plus a margin of 267 basis points (bps), and a final maturity date of March 27, 2015. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to refinance a 10-year $539 million SGD term loan from 2006 and for general corporate purposes. BOC contributed $100.00 million SGD to the loan syndicate; in addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed the respective amounts to the loan syndicate: DBS Bank ($415.00 million SGD), United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) ($145.00 million SGD), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ($70.00 million SGD), and Natixis ($70.00 million SGD). UOB served as sole mandated lead arranger, bookrunner, and underwriter. BOC served as lead arranger. CBA and Natixis served as arrangers. Record ID#99576 captures BOC's contribution. In September 2013, financial close was reached on a deal in which a three-bank syndicate entered into a $1.15 billion SGB ($923.6 million USD) loan agreement with Universal Group Holdings (Pte.) Ltd. — a holding company wholly owned by the Lim family and holder of a 65% stake in Universal Terminal (S) Pte. Ltd. — for the Jurong Universal Terminal Oil Storage 2013 Refinancing Project. Then, in mid-October 2013, three banks launched the loan into syndication. Then, on December 30, 2013, financial close was reached on general syndication after eight lenders joined. As a result, a syndicate of 11 banks — including the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (BOCHK) and China CITIC Bank — provided the $1.15 billion SGD syndicated loan to Universal Holdings (Pte.) Ltd. for the Jurong Universal Terminal Oil Storage 2013 Refinancing Project. This loan was divided into two tranches: a $610 million SGD and a $540 million SGD. Both tranches carried a maturity period of five years and an interest rate of 3-month swap offer rate SIBOR plus a margin of 290 bps. Universal Group Holdings (Pte.) Ltd. issued a guarantee to the lenders in the event the project company failed to renew, at market rates, any of its capacity contracts scheduled to mature before the maturity of the loan. Furthermore, this loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) Universal Holdings' 65% equity stake in Universal Terminal (S) Pte. Ltd. The loan contained restrictions on indebtedness for the borrower and Universal Terminal (S) Pte. Ltd., ring-fenced the borrower's assets from encumbrances, and an obligation to maximize dividend payments to the holding company with any incremental cash swept at 100%. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to repay the 2010 $800 million SGD loan (via the proceeds of the $610 million SGD tranche) and for general corporate purposes (via the proceeds of the $540 million SGD tranche). BOCHK contributed $200 million SGD and China CITIC Bank contributed $50 million SGD to the loan syndicate. Record ID#99588 captures BOCHK's contribution. Record ID#99589 captures China CITIC Bank's contribution. In addition to BOCHK and China CITIC Bank, the following lenders contributed the respective amount to the loan syndicate: DBS Bank ($210 million SGD), Maybank Banking Berhad ($210 million SGD), Standard Chartered Bank ($150 million SGD), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ($75 million SGD), HSBC Bank ($75 million SGD), Bank of East Asia Limited (BEA) ($50 million SGD), CTBC Financial Holdings ($50 million SGD), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) ($50 million SGD), and Hong Leong Finance ($300 million SGD). DBS, Maybank, and Standard Chartered served as the original bookrunners, underwriters, and mandated lead arrangers. BOCHK joined as a mandated lead arranger and bookrunner during syndication. China CITIC Bank, CBA, and HSBC joined as mandated lead arrangers in syndication. BEA, CTBC, SMBC, and Hong Leong Finance joined as lead arrangers in syndication. Then, on December 29, 2015, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of four mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners — BOC, DBS (acting as coordinator), HSBC, and Standard Chartered — entered into a $1.750 billion SGD ($1.24196 billion USD) syndicated loan agreement with UT Singapore Services Pte Ltd — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Terminal (S) Pte Ltd — for the Jurong Universal Terminal Oil Storage 2015 Refinancing and Restructuring Project. This loan carried a maturity period of five years and a final maturity date of December 29, 2020. It featured a fully amortizing repayment profile. UT Singapore issued a guarantee in support of this loan. Then, in January 2016, the banks began early bird syndication and set February 24, 2016 as the response date for interested banks. Close on syndication was reached in June 2016. During syndication, two more lenders — Chinese state-owned China Petroleum Finance Company Limited and UOB — joined the loan syndicate, raising the total lenders to six. Each lender, including BOC and China Petroleum Finance, contributed approximately $218.3 million USD to the loan syndicate. Record ID#99590 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#99591 captures China Petroleum Finance's contribution. The proceeds were to be used for the refinancing of senior debt and to support the acquisition by the borrower of the Universal Terminal from its parent company; specifically, Universal Terminal (S) Pte Ltd transferred the terminal to UT Singapore Services for $3 billion SGD ($1.2 billion USD) and granted a long-term lease of its JTC premises to UT Singapore. The acquisition was completed in January 2016. Concurrent with the restructuring, Universal Group Holdings and PetroChina International together sold a 34% stake in Universal Terminal (S) to MAIF Investments Singapore Pte Ltd — a Macquarie-run fund owned by Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Investments Pte Ltd (40% equity stake), National Pension Service of Korea (30% equity stake), and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (30% equity stake) — for $629 million SGD ($438 million USD) leaving Universal Holdings with a 41% stake in Universal Terminal and PetroChina International with a 25% stake. Then, on March 19, 2021, financial close was reached on the Jurong Universal Terminal Oil Storage Acquisition Project, in which Jurong Port Universal Terminal Pte. Ltd. (JPUT) — a special purpose vehicle wholly owned by Jurong Port Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean port operator wholly owned by Singaporean statutory board (autonomous government entity) JTC Corporation (JTC) — acquired Universal Holdings (Pte.) Ltd.'s 41% stake in Universal Terminal (S) Pte. Ltd. and UT Singapore Services, its storage tanks, plant, equipment, machinery, and jetty facilities for $3 billion SGD ($2.2 billion USD). To support this acquisition, a syndicate of eight lenders — including BOC and China Petroleum Finance Company Limited — entered into a $1.5 billion SGD ($1.1 billion USD) syndicated loan agreement with Jurong Port Universal Terminal Pte. Ltd. This loan carried a maturity period of five years. In addition to BOC and China Petroleum Finance, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: UOB, DBS, SMBC, HSBC, Hong Leong Finance, and Maybank. UOB served as mandated lead arranger and brought the other seven lenders onboard during syndication. Record ID#99592 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#99593 captures China Petroleum Finance's contribution. The Universal Terminal is an oil storage facility located on Jurong Island, Singapore, with a total storage capacity of 2.333 million cubic meters. Its facilities became operational in 2008. It is one of the largest independently-run oil terminals in the world.
Staff comments
1. The individual contributions of the eight lenders to this $1.5 billion SGD syndicated loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData has estimated the contribution of BOC and CPF by assuming that each lender contributed an equal amount ($187,500,000 SGD) to the syndicated loan. 2. Universal Group Holdings (Pte.) Ltd. is owned by the Lim family (specifically, Lim Oon Kuin, Evan Lim Chee Meng, and Lim Huey Ching) {{see ID#189562}}. In April 2020, the owner of Hin Leong Trading (one of Singapore's biggest oil trading companies), Lim Oon Kuin, popularly known as OK Lim, filed for bankruptcy, taking to court for protection from his company’s creditors {{see ID#189544}}. Then, on December 14, 2020, Bloomberg reported that Bank of China sued BP Plc in Singapore for BP's alleged role in arranging oil deals with Hin Leong, joining a slate of creditors (including HSBC and DBS Group) seeking to recoup losses from the Hin Leong oil trading scandal; specifically, BOC sought $125.7 million USD ($168 million SGD) in repayment from BP, equal to the amount withdrawn from three letters of credit in February 2020 based on the sale of 1.5 million barrels of gasoil cargoes from BP to Hin Leong that had never actually occurred but had been falsely documented as having so as part of a “fictitious purchase scheme conspiracy” to maintain Hin Leong’s liquidity; Hin Leong had fabricated documents on a large-scale to attract bank financing and support false gains and profits. Additionally, BOC sought repayment of $187.2 million USD ($250 million SGD) from OK Lim and his two children, equal to the amount of the deals with BP and overdue payments on short-term loans and letters of credit. However, BP denied the Chinese bank’s allegations and stated it would defend its position {{see ID#189560}}. In August 2020, the Singaporean police charged OK Lim with instructing an executive at his company to forge a document. In September 2020, the Singaporean police further charged OK Lim with abetment of forgery. In November 2020, HSBC sued OK Lim and his two children seeking recovery of $85.3 million USD ($115.8 million SGD) sent to them based on false documents {{see ID#189544}}. Additionally, in August 2020, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) filed suit to force OK Lim and his two children to repay the $3.5 billion USD debt and $90 million USD in dividend they paid themselves despite the insolvency of their company. On March 8, 2021, the High Court of Singapore approved the winding up of Hin Leong Trading after nearly a year of restructuring and appointed PwC's judicial managers as liquidators {{see ID#189561}}. In September 2021, the High Court of Singapore rejected an appeal by BP against the fraud accusations from the Singapore Branch of BOC {{see ID#189543}}.