Following a year long syndication period the mammoth $2.7 billion project financing for CNOOC Shell Petrochemicals has closed. The deal was split between a $1.977 billion onshore portion and a $700m offshore tranche that includes a $400m export credit financing.
The borrower is a Sino-foreign joint venture set up by sponsors Royal DutchShell Group, which has a 50% stake, China National Offshore Oil Corp CNOOC, which holds 45% and Guangdong Investment with the remaining 5% share. This company was incorporated to finance and develop the Nanhai Petrochemical project in Huizhou, Guangdong Province.
The project entails the construction of an 800,000 ton per year ethylene manufacturing plant with nine downstream...