The deal between ICBC Leasing and Jaccar was inked on Thursday in the presence of China’s prime minister Li Keqiang and France’s prime minister Manuel Valls, during Li’s trip in France to promote the ‘One Belt One Road Project’ on the Maritime Silk Road.
ICBC Leasing will extend $900m to Jaccar Holdings, which majority owns OSV firm Bourbon and has a stake in Chinese firm Sinopacific Shipbuilding, to fund the building of five very large ethane carriers (VLECs) and three multipurpose gas carriers. The newbuildings will be built at a Chinese shipyard.
In September 2014, Jaccar and Hartmann Group formed a joint venture in Singapore to manage five 85,000 cu m VLECs, which will then be chartered to a third party.
ICBC Leasing will also support Seatrade with $200m of loans for the construction of seven reefer ships, under a deal penned earlier on Monday. Similarly, the reefer ships will be built in Chinese yards, with the first delivery scheduled in early 2016.
Separately, France’s container line CMA CGM also entered into a $1bn financing solutions framework agreement with Export-Import Bank of China for future vessel orders.
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