The Export-Import Bank of the United States has finally approved a US$118m direct loan to the state-owned Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) to support the funding of the Lockheed Martin-built Vinasat-2 satellite.
BNP Paribas will serve as…
The Export-Import Bank of the United States has finally approved a US$118m direct loan to the state-owned Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) to support the funding of the Lockheed Martin-built Vinasat-2 satellite.
BNP Paribas will serve as the documentation agent and letter-of-credit bank for the loan, which SatelliteFinance understands will have a ten year term.
The size of the facility is actually smaller than the initial request of US$125.9m after Lockheed and VNPT modified the request.
Vinasat-2 was actually launched by Arianespace back on 15 May 2012 so the loan is in fact a reach-back financing. As to why this was the case, an Ex-Im Bank spokesman said: “Reach-back financing is not uncommon. The initial intent had been to provide financing prior to the satellite’s launch, but the unique nature of the request resulted in the financing being applied retroactively.”
To that end, Ex-Im Bank said that Lockheed and VNPT had actually submitted the application prior to the completion of the satellite but the request had required an ‘inordinately long review process.’
This is most likely the fact that Ex-Im Bank could only consider the transaction after it had received presidential approval to do so. Under the Bank’s Charter, the president must first determine if an Ex-Im Bank loan of US$50m or more to a Marxist-Leninist country is in the national interest before the Bank’s board can vote on the transaction.
While Vietnam is classified as one of Ex-Im Bank’s nine key markets, the loan actually represents the ECA’s first satellite transaction with the government of Vietnam. As of the end of full year 2011, the ECA’s credit exposure in Vietnam accounted for US$185m of its portfolio.
Equipped with a payload of 24 active Ku-band transponders, Vinasat-2 recently completed its in-orbit testing and will provide coverage to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. It is located at 131.8E.
Lockheed also built Vietnam’s first ever communications satellite, Vinasat-1, which was launched in 2008.
