Saipem boosts financial structure and liquidity with new credit facilities

Italy’s oilfield services provider Saipem has entered into two new credit facilities totalling approximately €860 million (almost $925.2 million) with a pool of leading national and international banks to further strengthens its financial structure and liquidity.

Saipem made the announcement about these two new credit facilities on Monday, 13 February 2023. The Italian giant says that the first credit facility consists of a senior unsecured term loan of approximately €390 million (over $419.8 million) and SACE, the Italian Export Credit Agency, will guarantee 70 per cent of the loan under the Garanzia SupportItalia instrument.

With a pre-amortisation period of two years, the loan will have a duration of approximately five years while the effectiveness of the guarantee and the utilisation of the loan are subject to the issue of a specific decree by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).

On the other hand, the second credit facility consists of a revolving credit facility of around €470 million (about $505.9 million) with a duration of three years and a backup function, which is not expected to be used, according to Saipem.

Last year, Saipem ran into financial difficulties due to which the Italian company decided to cut costs, increase focus on offshore E&C and drilling, be more selective in projects, and reposition on low-risk offshore wind business in the following two years. With this in mind, the firm sold its onshore drilling business to KCA Deutag for $550 million in cash plus an equity stake in the combined entity as part of its strategy to focus on offshore drilling.

Regarding Saipem’s recent deals, it is worth noting that the Italian giant revealed two contracts in January 2023 – one in Brazil and one in Norway – worth approximately $900 million. This came after the firm secured new offshore contracts with a total value of approximately $1.2 billion for work in Guyana and Egypt.

The oilfield services player also recently launched a new asset integrity management system for offshore energy operators and confirmed its participation as a technology partner in Snam and Baker Hughes’ operational tests at the Snam natural gas compression plant in Istrana, Italy.