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Nakilat’s fleet of 25 wholly-owned state-of-the-art large LNG vessels will be financed by the Program Financing. In addition to the wholly-owned ships being acquired by Nakilat, QGTC has an ownership stake (43% on average) in 29 other LNG vessels, all of which are backed by long term time charters. According to Muhammad Ghannam, QGTC's Managing Director, Nakilat’s 25 wholly-owned vessels will serve as the floating pipeline to carry LNG for the Qatargas II, Qatargas 3, RasGas 3 and Qatargas 4 projects, which will together produce over 77 mmtpa of LNG. To date, 14 of the 25 vessels have been delivered by the shipyards, with 8 more to be delivered by the end of 2009 and the remaining 3 are scheduled to be delivered by middle of 2010. H.E. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Energy and Industry congratulated Nakilat and QP on the completion of the $6.8 billion program debt. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “I am happy to see Nakilat achieve the goals it set out to achieve and raise the required funding despite the difficult markets given the global financial crisis.” H.E. the Minister is the Chairman of Nakilat. Qatargas’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Nakilat Vice-Chairman, Mr. Faisal Al Suwaidi commenting on the occasion said, “We are pleased to see Nakilat complete its $6.8 billion program debt financing with this third and final tranche. It is not only a success for Nakilat but also a testament to the robustness of Qatari LNG value chain and the strength of the Nakilat’s Charterers.” Mr. Muhammad Ghannam, Managing Director Nakilat thanked H.E. the Minister and Mr. Faisal Al Suwaidi for their excellent support. Mr. Ghannam said, “Strong support and exquisite guidance from H.E. the Minister and Mr. Al Suwaidi was the critical success factor in this achievement.” Mr. Ghannam also appreciated the close cooperation from Qatar Petroleum. He said, “QP has been a valuable partner since the inception of the program debt. This success would not have been possible without the close cooperation and excellent teamwork between Nakilat, QP Project Finance team under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Abdulrahman Al Shaibi and Nakilat’s legal and financial advisors.” Mr. Ghannam stated, “The Nakilat Inc. Tranche III Debt financing once again proves Nakilat’s prime status in today’s financial market. Investors appreciate the strength of Nakilat in a challenging market. This is best demonstrated by the strong appetite from a group of new investors including two major Chinese banks. They value the financing underpinned by strong charter contracts with Qatari LNG projects. We will continue to strive to identify additional high-yield investment opportunities to maximize returns to our shareholders.” Mr. Ghannam said, “When we set up the Program Financing in 2006, the financing arrangement was challenging yet innovative and flexible. When we launched Tranche III Debt, we decided that we should tap a new pool of bank investors by leveraging on the strength of the Program Financing. We are very pleased see that the plan worked out nicely. Nakilat in every aspect of its business continues to be a leader and trendsetter. There were a number of significant “firsts” associated with the Tranche III Debt – the first time a transaction had nearly two times oversubscription, with strong participation from international, regional and local banks in face of a dislocated financial market. This is also the first time that major Chinese banks came into Qatari and Middle East project finance market with large ticket financing.” SMBC served as overall financial advisor in the Program Financing. Latham & Watkins advised Nakilat on commercial and legal matters while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advised the lending group. Independent consultants on the deal included Lloyd’s Register EMEA, Drewery Shipping Consultants, Marsh Ltd, and Stone & Webster Consultants. Holman Fenwick & Willan advised Nakilat Inc. and QGTC on time charter, ship building and ship management contracts. NAKILAT press release |
