SembMarine’s Brazilian unit enters $500 million credit facility

A Brazil-based wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore’s offshore rig builder Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine) has entered into a revolving facility agreement for up to $500 million with Standard Chartered Bank.

SembMarine said on Friday that the subsidiary in question was Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz (EJA). According to the company, the facility agreement will be guaranteed by SembMarine.

It is worth noting that the facility agreement contains a condition regarding to the shareholding interests of Sembcorp Industries in the shares of SembMarine.

Namely, that condition would come in effect if Sembcorp Industries ceases to be the majority shareholder of SembMarine and does not own, directly or indirectly, more than 50 per cent of the issued share capital of the company.

If a change of control occurs, Standard Chartered will be informed and the parties will enter into negotiations to review the terms of the facility agreement and related documents.

If SembMarine and the bank fail to reach an agreement concerning any amendments, waivers and/or consents required to the facility agreement and related documents within 30 days, the bank may cancel the commitment.

Standard Chartered will then declare all outstanding loans, together with accrued interests, and all other amounts accrued regarding EJA’s loan due and payable within 20 business days.

For the avoidance of doubt, the foregoing is a prepayment event under the facility agreement and does not constitute a breach or an event of default under the facility agreement.

As of Friday, 5 June 2020, the level of loan and trade facilities of SembMarine that may be affected by a change of control amounts to S$6.025 billion ($4,32 billion).

In related company news, a court in Brazil accepted a money laundering and corruption complaint against a former SembMarine employee earlier this week as part of the Brazilian Car Wash (Lava Jato) probe.

Namely, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in Brazil in February 2020 filed charges against Guilherme Esteves de Jesus (GDJ Banco do Brasil) for money laundering and SembMarine ex-employee Martin Cheah Kok Choon for money laundering and corruption in connection with certain drilling rig construction contracts entered into by subsidiaries of the company with Sete Brasil in 2012.

More precisely, Martin Cheah is the former president of EJA whose employment was terminated in June 2015.

Another notable piece of news came last month when SembMarine decided to reduce its yard workforce from 20,000 to only 850 workers following movement restriction measures due to the coronavirus pandemic.