December 8, 2011 [OPIS] - Mercuria Energy Trading Pte Ltd, a wholly owned Singapore trading company owned by Geneva-based Mercuria Energy Group Ltd, has secured $755 million one-year and three-year syndicated revolving credit facility, 57% or 1.6 times oversubscribed than its original launch at $480 million.
Commitments from 29 international banks were strong despite ongoing concerns about the eurozone crisis and possible global recession.
Mercuria Energy Trading Pte Ltd, incorporated in Singapore in 2004, is the regional headquarters for principal trading and providing key marketing support and services to the entire Group.
Mercuria Energy is trading a diversified base of crude oil, petroleum products, coal and dry freight. It also provides storage, blending, transport and distribution services. Currently, the company has more than 160 staff headcount as well as offices in Singapore, Beijing (China), Dubai (Emirates), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Mumbai (India). The company also has a joint venture arrangement with a local marketing company in Bangkok (Thailand). Proceeds of the facility will be used to refinance existing debt and to finance general corporate and working capital requirements of the company. The facility has tenors of one and three years. “Our Singapore regional hub Mercuria Energy Trading Pte Ltd has successfully closed its third fundraising exercise in Asia for a final amount of $755 million. The facility has been largely oversubscribed (1.6 times) attracting more and more Asian banks,” said Mercuria Energy Group Chief Financial Officer Guillaume Vermersch.
“We believe that the resilience of the Mercuria Energy business model having already crossed with success several adverse economic cycles, strongly driven by its risk management focus, is valued by the Asian banking community. The Group will keep on growing and investing in Asia with the support of the local banks,” he added. With a 2011 turnover of around $70 to 80 billion, Mercuria is one of the world’s largest independent energy merchants. Mercuria has 900 staff operating from 36 offices in more than 28 countries. The group is active in oil, natural gas, LNG, power, coal, biodiesel and carbon emissions markets.
Underpinning the Group’s market activities is a significant portfolio of strategic physical assets. Mercuria’s infrastructure capabilities include oil and petroleum products storage terminals in North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
It has upstream exploration and production assets ranging from oil and gas in Argentina, West Africa and North America to coal mining in South Africa, North America and Southeast Asia.
