MPC Container Ships (MPCC) has fixed financing for its new panamax container ships with France’s Credit Agricole (CACIB).
UK law firm Watson Farley & Williams (WFW), which advised the lender, said the facility is worth $102m and is backed by Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure).
The loan comprises a K-Sure-insured tranche and a commercial tranche relating to each of two 5,500-teu ships on order at HJ Shipbuilding & Construction (HJSC) in South Korea.
Credit Agricole was the arranger, with K-Sure as the agent, security agent and facility agent.
WFW said the vessels’ eco-friendly design will have significant efficiency advantages over peer designs, significantly higher trading capacity and technical options for carbon-neutral operations.
The orders were placed in 2022 and delivery is set for 2024. VesselsValue assesses the ships as worth around $73m each.
Germany-based MPCC also has four 1,300-teu feeder ships being built in China.
The WFW Hamburg assets and structured finance team that advised the French bank was led by partner Clemens Hillmer, supported by managing associate Sofia Tzanaki and senior associate Paula Wildemann.
London partner Patrick Smith advised on the English law aspects of the transaction.
Clemens said: “We are pleased to have advised our longstanding client CACIB on this important deal, which demonstrates the expertise of our Hamburg assets and structured finance team, as well as our ability to expertly manage high-value export credit agency-backed transactions.”
