Russia: SCF Secures Funds for Two Ice-Breaking Supply Vessels

OAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) today announces that on 12 December 2012 it signed a USD 160 million, 12 year export credit facility with Finnvera plc, Finnish Export Credit Ltd. and ING BANK N.V. The funds will be used towards financing two new ice-breaking supply vessels, Vitus Bering and Aleksey Chirikov, currently under construction at Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Oy (a joint venture of OAO United Shipbuilding Corporation and STX Finland).

The new vessels will provide year-round services to the oil platform at the Arkutun-Dagi offshore oilfield (part of the Sakhalin-I project), under a long-term charter agreement with Exxon Neftegas Limited.

SCF has long-standing relationships with a number of national financial institutions and export credit agencies around the world. The Group is very pleased to establish a new relationship with Finnish Export Credit Ltd. and its parent company Finnvera plc. The export credit agreement was arranged by ING Bank, SCF Group’s long-standing financial partner, on attractive terms and with a favorable long-term tenor.

Nikolai Kolesnikov, Senior Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer, said:

“We welcome the opportunity to work with Finnvera and Finnish Export Credit, two new financing partners for SCF Group, in addition to our longstanding partner ING Bank. This is the third successful international financing agreement for SCF Group in 2012. It further strengthens the Group’s liquidity position and, despite the challenging conditions of the global financial and shipping markets, enables us to address all our key upcoming financial requirements.”

[mappress]
Press Release, December 14, 2012