BB Energy Asia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BB Energy Group, closed a $340 million secured digital borrowing base facility to support the working capital needs of its Asian trading business.
The 364-day Facility, guaranteed by BB Energy Group, is a renewal of 2023’s borrowing base facility for the Group outside the USA, covering import finance as well as funding of inventory, receivables and hedging positions under its wholly owned subsidiary, BB Energy Asia.
The facility, oversubscribed and supported in the market, has attracted commitments from new Asian lenders, and represents an increase on the $235 million last year. Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) acted as the facility and security agent, and the other participating banks were: DBS Bank Singapore, Arab Petroleum Investments, MUFG Singapore, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank Singapore, First Abu Dhabi Bank Singapore, Qatar National Bank Singapore and Arab Banking Corporation B.S.C. Singapore.
“We are delighted to have successfully refinanced our Asian Digital Borrowing Base Facility, which closed at USD 340 million with particularly strong support from Singapore based banks. Once again, we appreciate their unwavering support and would like to express our gratitude to our existing banking partners as well as the new participating banks,” Anbu Ramasamy, regional chief financial officer, APAC at BB Energy Asia, said. “The over-subscription, secured during a dynamic and challenging trading environment, is an endorsement of our strategic path and operational resilience. Our lending partners’ trust highlights their confidence in our business model, financial stewardship and governance. We look forward to working closely with our diversified banking group as we continue to grow the Asian business. For the second year running, the facility is underpinned by a cutting-edge digital trade platform through our partnership with Komgo and SGTraDex, reflecting BB Energy Group’s commitment to transparency and operational integrity. Embracing digitisation has delivered tangible benefits over the past year, including better data integrity, higher efficiency and increased transparency and we look forward to continuing this partnership.”
“We would like to congratulate BB Energy Asia on the successful closing of this transaction and thank them for entrusting Natixis CIB with this key mandate. This milestone achievement reinforces Natixis CIB’s capabilities and leadership in providing innovative and tailored financing solutions,” L-Thanh Nguyen, head of global trade, Asia Pacific at Natixis CIB, said. “We are committed to supporting our clients through their digital transformation journeys while enhancing efficiency and maintaining our competitive edge in the market.”
“SGTraDex is honored to have played a pivotal role in BB Energy’s continued success with the closing of this digital borrowing base facility,” Thaw Yee Leng, chief of market development and digital strategy for SGTraDex, said. “This milestone strengthens our renewed partnership and highlights the growing adoption of digital solutions in trade finance. We look forward to seeing even greater adoption across the trade finance community as we work together to drive innovation and efficiency.”
