Linklaters has advised Glencore Energy UK Ltd on a $1.4bn pre-financing transaction relating to the sale of crude oil by Société des Hydrocarbures du Tchad (SHT) as well as a US$1.3bn limited recourse credit facility for the financing and refinancing of the prepayment made to SHT.
The US$1.4bn amount made available to SHT is an advance payment for future deliveries of crude oil to Glencore Energy UK Ltd. This amount was used to finance the acquisition by the Republic of Chad, for the account of SHT, of Chevron’s oil and gas assets in Chad, namely a 25% stake in the Doba basin oil fields and a 21% stake in the entities operating the 1,070 kilometre-long oil pipeline between Chad and the Kribi oil terminal in Cameroon.
The credit facility granted to Glencore has been provided by a syndicate of European and African banks comprising Africa Finance Corporation, Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank, ING, First Bank of Nigeria, Natixis and Société Générale.
The credit facility is currently being globally syndicated by Glencore, acting as bookrunner.
The Linklaters team assisting Glencore Energy UK Ltd on this major and strategic transaction for the Republic of Chad and SHT was led from Paris by Bertrand Andriani (partner) and included Justin C. Faye and Ghita Bennis on the project finance aspects, and Rhian Parker (from London) on tax matters. Bruno Derieux (partner), Pierre Thomet and Nicolas Le Guillou from the Paris corporate team were also involved in the transaction, focusing on the acquisition of Chevron’s oil and gas assets.
A few months ago, the same Paris-based Linklaters project finance team advised a group of lenders, led by Ecobank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) and including Afrexim, Banque Atlantique (Cameroon) and BGFIBank (Gabon), on Orion Oil Limited’s $500m pre-financing transaction in respect of an advance payment to Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) for future deliveries of crude oil to Orion Oil Limited. This was the largest financing of its type to be fully syndicated by African banks.
