Petroleum
National Berhad (Petronas) which has a major
role in fuelling the growth of the Eastern
Corridor has raised US$323.2 million
syndicated loan facility to fund its wide
ranging activities aimed at developing
petrochemical industries in the region
The
national oil corporation is expected to
utilise fund to part-finance several
petrochemical project currently undertaken
with its join venture partners in the
integrated petrochemical complexes (IPCs) in
Kertih , Terengganu and Gebeng, Pahang.
Petronas
in involved in the production of vinyl
chloride monomer/polyvinyl chloride (VCM/PVC)
and aromatics projects at the IPC in
Kertih .
This
will be the first project handled by Vinyl
Chloride (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, a 60:40 joint
venture between Petronas and Mitsui of Japan.
The
VCM plant has capacity to produce 400,000 tpa
of paraxylene
and 145,000tpa of benzene. The plant
begin operations in June 2000.
In
Kuantan the IPC is a joint venture between
Pertonas and German petrochemical giant, BASF.
Petronas holds 40 per cent stake in this
project. BASF AG Petronas petrochemicals Sdn
Bhd, the joint venture entity, understate to
produce acrylic acid/acrylic esters, oxo-alcohols
and butanediol.
The
loan, raised by Petronas for these project
consists of two tranches of US$123.2 million
with tenures of seven and nine years
respectively. The facility was co-arranged by
Chase Manhattan Asia Limited, Barclays Bank
PICs (Labuan Branch) and Dresdner Bank AG.
Chase Manhattan Bank (Labuan Branch was agent
for the facility.
The
credit facility in the first US Dollar term
long raised by Petronas this year, providing
the corporation the opportunity to
raise funds in a favorable environment to
further drive down its coast. The term loan
has received an overwhelming support from
bankers and investor and has been
oversubscribed by more than two times.
