Loan for Hong Kong's Leading Shipping Group Pacific Basin
Supporting Sales of Bulk Carriers Built by Overseas Subsidiariy of Japanese Shipbuilder

• Region: Asia
• Marine and Aerospace
• Overseas Investment Loans

1. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Hiroshi Okuda) signed today two loan agreements amounting up to approximately 25.4 million U.S. dollars in total (JBIC portion) for funding the purchase of two bulk carriers with PB Vessels Holding Limited (PBVH) in the British Virgin Islands.^*1  PBVH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong's leading shipping operator Pacific Basin Shipping Limited (Pacific Basin). Each loan is cofinanced with Citibank Japan Ltd. (Citi; lead arranger), with the overall cofinancing amount for the two vessels reaching approximately 50.8 million U.S. dollars. Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) provides Overseas Untied Loan Insurance for the portion cofinanced by Citi.
    
2. Pacific Basin, the ultimate purchaser of these ships, is headquartered in Hong Kong and one of the world's leading owners and operators of modern handysize and handymax dry bulk carriers. These loans are intended to finance Pacific Basin to purchase two of their bulk carriers to be built by Tsuneishi Group (Zhoushan) Shipbuilding, Inc. (Tsuneishi Zhoushan), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tsuneishi Holdings Corporation (with the head office in Fukuyama City in Hiroshima Prefecture). These loans follow the previous loans financing Pacific Basin to purchase four bulk carriers in March this year.^*2
    
3. These loans will finance the transactions of Tsuneishi Holdings Corporation, to support Japanese shipyards for winning orders and expanding sales, thereby contributing to maintaining and improving the international competitiveness of the Japanese shipbuilding industry.
    
4. JBIC will continue to support the export and sales of ships built in shipyards of Japanese shipbuilders in order to promote their accepting orders, in cofinancing with private financial institutions and in partnership with the Shipbuilders'Association of Japan.

Note

1. *1  Pacific Basin is a registered corporation in the British Bermuda Islands.
2. *2  See Press Release on March 28, 2013.