KfW IPEX-Bank and Fortis Bank to finance Volkswerft Stralsund container ships
Frankfurt am Main (ots)
KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, acting as lead arranger and agent, is to finance six 2,500 TEU container ships being built by Volkswerft Stralsund GmbH for White Dolphin Shipping Ltd., Hong Kong. Co-lead arrangers are Fortis Bank SA/NV and Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. The total credit volume is EUR 214.5 million, with KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH and the Fortis Banks each providing 50% of the financing. White Dolphin Shipping Ltd. is a subsidiary of Fair Hope Ltd., Hong Kong, in which the sponsors Delphis N.V. and BoxLog Ltd. concentrate their joint container shipping interests.
The financing structure incorporates a guarantee by the German Export Credit Agency Euler Hermes and combines, for the first time, such guarantee with the new specific CIRR (Commercial Interest Reference Rate) for ship financings, introduced by the German Government in the beginning of year 2008 to support the export activities of German shipyards. The new CIRR scheme provides borrowers an attractive fixed-interest rate option for its projects to be financed.
About KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH
KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH is a 100%-subsidiary of KfW Bankengruppe and provides project and corporate financing as well as trade and export financing domestically and abroad. Worldwide it conducts all market activities of KfW Bankengruppe that are carried out on commercial terms. KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH has been operating as a legally independent subsidiary since 1 January 2008 and contributes significantly to the promotional mission of KfW Bankengruppe. It has approx. 490 employees (as of October 2008) and is represented in the key economic and financial centres throughout the globe.
About Fortis Bank
Within the framework of recent developments on the financial markets, the Fortis Group was separated into Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V., Netherlands, and the Franco-Belgian-Luxembourg Fortis Bank SA/NV. Fortis Bank SA/NV's GEPF (Global Export & Project Finance) department is the competence center for global export-, project- and PPP finance with 15 network entities worldwide and headed out of Brussels. GEPF Frankfurt, its German network entity, was responsible for negotiating and concluding this project in conjunction with the Transportation department of Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. GEPF deals with medium- and long-term export financing for foreign banks and importers as well as non-/limited recourse project financing in developing countries. It also offers customised product solutions for the mining sector and for project financing within the scope of public-private partnership arrangements. The Transportation department of Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. provides finance solutions for the aviation, shipping, offshore and oil service industries.
Pressekontakt:
KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, Palmengartenstraße 5-9, 60325 Frankfurt
Pressestelle: E-Mail: dela.strumpf@kfw.de
Tel. 069 7431-2984, Fax: 069 7431-9409, E-Mail:
info@kfw-ipex-bank.de, Internet: www.kfw-ipex-bank.de
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