Yinson Holdings Berhad (“Yinson” or the “Group”), through its wholly-owned Singapore-based subsidiary Yinson Production Offshore Pte Ltd (“YPOPL”), together with its project partner Sumitomo Corporation (“Sumitomo”), have entered into a USD670 million syndicated loan facility (“mini perm”) for the FPSO Anna Nery project, with ING, Natixis and Standard Chartered Bank as underwriting banks. The agreement was also signed by AmBank, United Overseas Bank Ltd, Mizuho Bank Ltd and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) who are participating as senior lenders.

The 5-year limited recourse loan will be used to refinance an existing USD400 million bridge loan received in September 2020. The loan also will support the ongoing construction of FPSO Anna Nery, a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) project awarded to Yinson by Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (“Petrobras”) in October 2019. Sumitomo owns a 25% stake in the project.

The deal has been positively received by the investment community with several banks expressing interest to participate, including Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Berhad which is expected to participate in the syndication phase.

Yinson Group Chief Strategy Officer Daniel Bong said that this deal, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the FPSO financing space, was made possible through the Group’s long-standing strong relationships with the underwriting banks.

“The deal was sealed amid significant challenges in the FPSO financing space, which have been compounded over the past year by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and evolving investor appetites due to the energy transition. The success of this deal is a testament to the investor community’s confidence in Yinson’s ability to continue delivering on our commitments and in the robustness of our business strategy,” he commented.

Daniel also acknowledged that the strong teamwork between all parties was instrumental to the success of the deal. “Our sincere appreciation goes to our project team, corporate team, underwriting banks ING, Natixis and Standard Chartered Bank, senior lenders, project partner Sumitomo and client Petrobras for showing such a great commitment towards the success of this mini perm. Indeed, this is a case of teamwork making the dream work,” he added.

Yinson’s Chief Executive Officer of Offshore Production Flemming Grønnegaard said that the project team’s continuing ability to meet construction milestones was crucial in cementing the support of the underwriting banks for the mini perm.

“With support of our client, contractors and subcontractors, we are pleased to have reached the halfway mark of the EPCIC phase of construction as per schedule despite challenging circumstances exacerbated by the pandemic. We have recently completed the final drydocking campaign at Cosco shipyard in China and are well on track for delivery in the last quarter of 2022,” he explained.

The FPSO is destined for the Marlim field located in the eastern part of the Campos Basin, about 150km offshore Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.