Dorian LPG Ltd., an owner and operator of modern very large gas carriers (VLGCs), received commitments for up to $761 million of debt financing for its VLGC newbuild program, the company said in a statement. ABN AMRO Capital (USA) LLC is acting as global coordinator and Citibank NA’s London branch is acting as export credit agency coordinator.

Financing will be provided by the following banks:

  • ABN AMRO; ING Bank NV’s London branch; DVB Bank SE; Citibank; and Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New York branch will provide $250 million of commercial debt financing;
  • The Export Import Bank of Korea will provide $205 million of financing; and
  • The remaining $306 million of financing is being provided under tranches guaranteed by KEXIM ($203 million) and insured by the Korea Trade Insurance Corp. ($103 million). Financing under the KEXIM guaranteed and Korea Trade insured tranches will be provided by Deutsche Bank AG’s Hong Kong branch and Santander Bank NA.

Pursuant to the commitments received by Dorian LPG, the debt financing will be secured by, among other things, 18 of its VLGC newbuilds. The financing will represent a loan-to-contract cost ratio of about 55%. Pursuant to the commitments, the blended margin over LIBOR across all tranches of the financing will be about 2.1%, and the weighted average amortization profile will be about 14 years.

Dorian LPG expects closing, which is subject to final documentation and customary closing conditions, to occur in February.