Banks approve $150-M loan to ICTSI

MANILA, Philippines—Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has raised $150 million from a three-year loan with a syndicate of seven banks for the refinancing of some debt due by end-2010.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, ICSTI said it had signed a three-year loan facility with The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFK Ltd., Calyon, HSBC Ltd., Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Chinatrust (Philippines) Commercial Bank Corp., Citibank NA and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd.

“Proceeds of the loan facility will be used to refinance substantially all of the remaining outstanding balance of the company’s $250 million revolving and term loan facility due in December 2010 and will result in ICTSI having no substantial debt repayments due until the second half of 2011,” the company said.

It was earlier reported that ICTSI is bracing for a tough global environment by settling some debts ahead of maturity and negotiating with foreign creditors to stretch out the term of the large maturities next year.

ICTSI has already prefunded its capital requirements for this year and taken steps to prefund some of the debts due next year. The company tapped $106 million in remaining funds from a revolving credit facility in October last year and raised another P7.2 billion last December from five- to seven-year loans.

The company’s principal business is the management, operation and development of container terminals here and abroad while subsidiaries provide cargo handling and related services to container, storage facilities and services, and roll-on roll-off and anchorage services to non-containerized cargo or general cargo.

Aside from operating its flagship Manila International Container Terminal, ICTSI also operates two other terminals in the Philippines—the Cubi Point at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales and Sasa International Port in Davao City. It also has a global portfolio of port terminals in 11 countries across four continents. It has operations in the Philippines, Brazil, Poland, Madagascar, Japan, Indonesia, Syria, China, Ecuador, Colombia and Georgia.

Doris C. Dumlao

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