Kuwait’s Equate petrochemicals joint venture is looking to refinance a $6bn bridge loan that it secured last year, according to Reuters. The loan was used to finance the $3.2bn acquisition of the MEGlobal petchems joint venture from US petrochemicals giant Dow Chemical and state firm Petroleum Industries Company (PIC), as well as paying off project debt and freeing up cash for corporate purposes.
Equate – itself a joint venture involving PIC (42.5%) and Dow (42.5%) along with Kuwaiti investment firms Boubyan (9%) and Qurain (6%) – secured the original loan at a rate of 60 basis points over Libor. JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, HSBC, Kuwait Finance House and the National Bank of Kuwait were the loan arrangers. (CONTINUED - 278 WORDS)
