Christiania Heads Consortium to Finance Soviet Deal

A consortium of international banks has arranged a $482m syndicated loan for Soviet interests in one of the largest ship finance transactions recorded. The architect of the deal and one of the lead banks is Christiania Bank of Norway, which is acting as agent for one of the central companies in the project, Fiona Trust and Holding Corp., a Liberian subsidiary of AKP Sovcomflot. Co-leaders in bank syndicate are Bankers Trust, Societe Generale and Banque Indosuez, while some 25 other banks are also involved.

The huge financial package is primarily being used to fund newbuilding installments on eight of ten 146,000 dwt Suezmax tankers currently under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea, although there is an element of refinancing involved. The vessels are each double bottom, double skin and comply with the US Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The Soviets are paying cash to the shipyard for the construction of the ships.

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