Tue 23 Nov 2010, 18:34 GMT

Vopak concludes S$225m notes issuance


Terminal operator secures second private placement notes isssuance in Asia.



Royal Vopak (Vopak) has announced that it has concluded its second senior unsecured notes issuance in the Asian private placement market. The SGD 225 million raised will be used to fund Vopak’s growth strategy.

The SGD 225 million notes, in which seven Asian institutional investors are participating, have a ‘bullet maturity’ of 7.2 years and a fixed interest rate of 4%. DBS Bank Ltd. (DBS) acted as sole lead manager and bookrunner on the transaction.

Several of the Asian investors that participated in the first program, including DBS, also participated in the second issuance.

After this new Issuance, Vopak’s further enhanced debt maturity profile - with original durations between 5 to 20 years - consists of approximately USD 1.4 billion US private placement notes, SGD 435 million Asian note programs and a EUR 1 billion revolving credit facility, which is almost fully available for drawdown.

Jack de Kreij, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of Vopak said: ‘The focus of our strategic finance funding policy is to ensure flexible access to various capital markets and funding sources to support Vopak’s growth strategy, facilitating a continuous balanced and well-spread debt maturity profile at appropriate terms and conditions matching Vopak’s solid credit quality.

"We are very pleased to note that besides the valued long standing relationship with the robust US private placement market we are also experiencing positive interest from the Asian capital markets in our company enabling us to establish a comparable position in this important growth region step by step."


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