Hyundai Merchant Marine closed on a $500 million debt facility on Tuesday from a syndicate of financial institutions led by DNB Bank.
In order to fund the construction of five ultra-large container vessels being built at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and planned to be delivered throughout 2014, HMM will utilize the loan from the Dutch bank.
The mega-ships will be deployed on the Asia-Europe trade route.
There are other financial institutions involved in this transaction such as ABN AMRO, Credit Agricole, Korea Finance Corporation and The Korea Development Bank.
European ship finance banks used to finance 70 percent of new ship orders before many loans were put into default due to the Great Recession. Currently, it is difficult for carriers to hope for a financial support.
[mappress]
Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, December 14, 2011;