ICG concludes financing facility with EIB to finance new ferry

Group says new facility has €80m committed drawling limit

Irish Continental Group said it has concluded an €80 million financing facility with the European Investment Bank that it will use to finance the construction of a new vessel.

The ship, plans for which were announced in January, will boost the company’s peak freight capacity by 50 per cent, and will be the largest cruise ferry in the world in terms of vehicle capacity.

In a note to the stock exchange, the ferry company said the additional facility had an €80 million drawing limit and wass available for drawing during July 2018. Repayments are over a 12-year term.

The new facility is in addition to financing agreements announced in December that included a 12-year loan from the EIB with a €75 million drawing limit, multicurrency private loan shelf agreements with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Pricoa Capital Group with total uncommitted drawing limits of $275 million; a five-year multicurrency revolving credit facility provided by AIB and Bank of Ireland with a committed €75 million drawing limit and an additional uncommitted limit of €50 million; and an overdraft and guarantee facility of €16 million provided by AIB.

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist