Hong Kong shipowner Pacific Basin has secured its first inaugural sustainability-linked loan facility.
The handysize and supramax specialist said Wednesday that it has closed a $150m, three-year unsecured revolving credit facility, which will be used for general corporate purposes. However, financial terms were not disclosed.
Pacific Basin chief executive Martin Fruergaard said it also represents the company’s first syndicated unsecured revolving credit facility.
“This facility strengthens our financial capacity and diversifies our funding profile while reinforcing our commitment to sustainable shipping,” he said.
“The facility’s unsecured profile, competitive pricing and oversubscription reflect the market’s support for Pacific Basin and its ESG initiatives.”
BNP Paribas and Citigroup Global Markets Asia acted as the joint coordinating mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners and joint sustainability coordinators of the facility.
Other banks participating in the facility include HSBC, Iyo Bank, SBI Shinsei Bank and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Pacific Basin confirmed.
The shipowner said the facility aligns funding with its “corporate sustainability agenda”, which features a tiered pricing mechanism, with interest margin adjustments linked to predetermined key performance indicators (KPIs) based on annual sustainability performance targets (SPTs).
Pacific Basin said the chosen KPIs address carbon intensity and crew safety and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues including targeting net zero by 2050 and safeguarding the safety, health and wellbeing of the company’s staff at sea.
Last year, Pacific Basin announced its future newbuildings would use green methanol as their future fuel of choice following a study with Japanese counterparts.
The company has developed a new generation of zero-emission bulkers and bunkering infrastructure with Japan’s Nihon Shipyard and Mitsui & Co.
In 2021, Pacific Basin launched a scheme to allow charterers to offset their carbon emissions from its bulkers. The carbon-neutral voyage programme offers “green” contracts of affreightment on a voluntary basis.
