On behalf of the Dutch government Atradius Dutch State Business has issued the largest ever working capital guarantee to IHC Merwede. With this finance agreement in place, IHC Merwede will start work on the construction of two pipelaying vessels for its Malaysian customer SapuraCrest.
The ships are part of a recent offshore order worth €450 million and will install flexible pipelines in Brazilian waters, where large quantities of oil have been discovered. The delivery dates for the vessels, which will be built in the Netherlands, have been set for May and August 2014 respectively.
Working Capital Finance Facility of € 200 Million
IHC Merwede has signed a working capital finance facility of €200 million with its bank consortium, formed by ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ING and Rabobank. The banks are providing the capital because Atradius Dutch State Business covers the repayment risk through a working capital guarantee in the main. The facility will be used by IHC Merwede to cover the construction costs.
Supporting Dutch Capital Goods Exporters
The guarantee has been developed after close cooperation with the Dutch Ministries of Finance and Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, banks and exporting business. The overall aim is to promote the provision of working capital to Dutch capital goods exporters, so that they can have access to the required financial resources. Since the introduction of this facility in 2010, hundreds of millions of euros have been provided as coverage. The SapuraCrest order is the largest financing facility covered by a Dutch State working capital guarantee.
Picture: the pipelay vessel for SapuraCrest
