Golar LNG said that it has received an underwritten financing commitment for its newbuild FSRU Golar Tundra, scheduled for delivery in December 2015.
Based on the current cost of the FSRU, the facility of up to $216 million, to be provided by China Merchants Bank Leasing, will fund the FSRU on a charter free basis, and, at current 10 year interest rate swap levels, will have an all-in cost of less than 6 percent, the company said on Friday.
The facility also provides for the Tundra’s eventual sale to Golar LNG Partners.
On the current charter free basis, the facility will finance a minimum of $50 million more than the final delivery payment to the shipyard.
As part of this financing commitment China Merchants Bank Leasing will also provide a parallel facility to refinance the Golar Partners owned FSRU, Golar Eskimo. Upon drawdown, this new facility will refinance the vessels existing $156 million debt and provide approximately $100 million of additional finance that is expected to be used to repay the remaining $100 million balance of the Golar Eskimo vendor financing facility provided by Golar.
This joint financing for Tundra and Eskimo will release approximately $150 million in cash Golar LNG said.
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Image: Golar LNG