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Topaz Secures $42 Million Loan for Fleet Expansion
DUBAI - Topaz Energy and Marine said on Sunday that it has secured a $42 million loan from Standard Chartered Bank to fund plans to expand its offshore support vessels fleet.
The Dubai-based company has so far raised a total of $150 million in 2009 and a lion’s share of these funds have been used to expand and modernise its fleet, the company said in a statement.
“Although finance available for the shipping sector as a whole is scarce, the OSV space that Topaz occupies is a relative bright spot for banks,” the statement said.
Topaz operates more than 100 modern and high-spec vessels with diverse capabilities such as anchor handling tug supply vessels, platform supply vessels, flotels, ice breakers, crew boats, cable layers, survey vessels and specialized barges.
“Topaz has a strong balance sheet and comfortably meets its bank covenants which make financing us a compelling case for the banks,” said Pramod Balakrishnan, chief financial officer. “Our overall fleet exposure is weighted towards medium and long-term contracts which helps counterbalance any spot market volatility, providing another level of comfort for the banks. The long visibility and consistent cash flows generated enable our bankers to sleep soundly.” Topaz employs a prudent vessel acquisition strategy that restricts any speculative buying other than in technological or geographical niches. The strategy has proven very successful and paired with the relatively low counterparty risk related to Topaz’s blue-chip client base, banks have responded positively, the statement said.
“We are delighted to have worked with Topaz to put this loan facility into place,” Russell Beardmore, Director Structured Finance at SCB said. “The bank established the Shipping Finance division in the Middle East in 2008 specifically to provide specialist financing to its relationship clients in the region. This facility is a clear demonstration of us leveraging on our strengths, network and experience to support the sustainable, long-term growth of the Gulf economy.”
Topaz said that the profile of the banks it has used for funding its expansion plans is quite diverse and covers leading, regional commercial and Islamic banks, specialised international shipping banks and global institutions.
Setting the stage for 2010, Topaz said it has set its strategic intent to aggressively pursue growth through acquisitions into geographies of strategic importance to the global hydrocarbon markets. —ovais@khaleejtimes.com
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