A Chinese financial house has agreed to invest in another floating production, storage and offloading vessel owned by global FPSO giant SBM Offshore and operating offshore Brazil. The latest investment reflects the continued effort by China Merchants Financial Leasing (Hong Kong) Holding Company (CMFL) to own equity in floating production units positioned to develop sizeable reserves owned and operated by companies with an attractive profile in terms of credibility and solidity. Well-informed financial officials in Asia told Upstream that CMFL has farmed in to a minor stake in the Cidade de Ilhabela FPSO, which is now in service at the Petrobras-operated Sapinhoa pre-salt field offshore Brazil. The exact equity stake was not made clear, but officials said it should be similar to the 13.5 equity interest CMFL bought from SBM earlier this year for the Sepetiba FPSO. The divestment follows SBM Offshore's successful approach to the bond market last year to raise $850 million to refinance the Cidade de Ilhabela FPSO, also operating in Brazil's Campos basin. The proceeds are being used in part to repay existing bank debt of about $535 million, with a remaining term of about four years.
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