Indo-Kodeco financing under way

Indo-Kodeco financing under way

HONG KONG (Reuter): The US$345 million financing for Indonesia's Indo-Kodeco Cement project has gotten under way, arranger Fuji Bank Singapore said yesterday.

Indo-Kodeco Cement is a joint venture of South Korea's Korea Development Co. (Kodeco), Indonesia's Indocement and Japan's Marubeni. It was set up to build a cement plant in South Kalimantan.

The fundraising comprises four tranches.

Tranche A is a US$126 million JEXIM (Export-Import Bank of Japan) loan, while Tranche B is a $84 million JEXIM co-financing with Japan Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) political risk coverage.

Tranche C is a $80 million commercial tranche guaranteed by Marubeni and Tranche D is a $55 million commercial loan.

Tranches B, C and D will be syndicated, the arranger said.

The tenor of the loan is 10 years. Repayment is in semi-annual equal installments after a few-year grace period for an average life of around seven years.

The all-in return is about 200 basis points over the London Interbank Offered Rate. Further details on pricing were not available.

Banks are asked to participate in each tranche on a pro-rata basis.

The facility is fully underwritten by eight banks. They are Fuji Bank Singapore, BNP, Korea Exchange Bank and Mitsubishi Bank, which will act as arrangers, and LTCB, Mitsubishi Trust, Sumitomo Bank and WestLB, which will act as co-arrangers.

Roadshows will begin next week in Singapore. Replies from banks wishing to join the syndication are due Feb. 9.