NBPOL inks US$240 million

Source:
The National - Monday, April 4, 2011
NEW Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPO), one of the largest fully integrated industrial producers of sustainable palm oil, last Friday announced the signing of a new five-year US$240 million debt facility.The facility will replace the previous 12 month US$200 million facility entered into in April last year to partially fund the acquisition of CTP (PNG) Ltd (now renamed Kula Palm Oil Ltd). In a statement through the Port Moresby Stock Exchange, the company said the facility was being provided by Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd, Labuan Branch of Malaysia, Maybank International Ltd, and ANZ (PNG) Ltd.The facility comprised two equally-sized amortising and non-amortising tranches, and represented terms which the directors believed were very competitive. The directors were particularly pleased with the level of competition demonstrated by interested lenders during the financing process.Furthermore, the directors noted the continuing relatively low level of leverage that this facility represented for a company of NBPOL’s size and cash generative ability.NBPOL chief executive Nick Thompson said: “The high level of competition, the very favourable terms and the extension of NBPOL’s facilities achieved during this refinancing demonstrated the increased strength and standing of the company in the eyes of the lending community. “As part of the process, it also became clear that risk-appetite for lending to PNG had increased substantially.“The company now had a very stable and conservative capital structure,” he added.NBPOL is a large-scale integrated industrial producer of sustainable palm oil in Australasia, headquartered in PNG.It now has more than 75,000ha of planted oil palm plantations, a further 5,000ha under preparation for oil palm among others.