HFW advises SMB Offshore on US$400m FPSO sale and leaseback financing

HFW has advised SBM Offshore and its partners in respect of SBM Offshore’s first sale and leaseback financing, which was made with a consortium of four Chinese leasing companies.

The US$400 million non-recourse sale and leaseback financing, with a tenor of eight years, involves the transfer of ownership of the FPSO Cidade de Paraty from a special purpose company owned by affiliated companies of SBM Offshore and its partners to the lessors.

The completion of this transaction marks a significant milestone for the offshore industry, representing one of the first FPSO projects being financed through co-leasing structures.

SBM Offshore is a global leader in deepwater ocean-infrastructure and the FPSO Cidade de Paraty is the first of four pre-salt field FPSOs built by SBM Offshore.

SBM Offshore and its partners will continue to operate and maintain the asset until the end of the initial charter and operate contracts for the remaining period of 8.5 years.

The cross-border HFW team was led by Singapore based Partner John Forrester, with support in Singapore from Associate Ee Ling Goh. Certain related corporate and regulatory aspects of the transaction were handled by London based Partners Alistair Mackie (Corporate) and Daniel Martin (Regulatory) and their teams. Local assistance in Hong Kong at financial closing was provided by HFW Hong Kong Partner Patrick Cheung and Associate Chloe Chow.  

The Chinese leasing companies were advised by Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance. The Stephenson Harwood team was led by partner Huay Yee Kwan, with support from colleagues in the firm’s Shipping and Offshore Finance practice.