Essar Energy Plc raises $300-mn loan from China's exim bank

Essar Energy Plc, the London-listed unit of Mumbai-headquartered Essar group today said that it had borrowed $300 million from the Export-Import Bank of China.

The company said in a statement that the loan was in addition to the existing $150 million loan facility from Axis Bank Ltd.

The Axis Bank agreement, allowed Essar Energy to increase the borrowing to $450 million. The company would need to pay back both these loans by 2017.

The agreement of the $ 150 million facility with Axis Bank, was signed in September 2012. The disbursal happened the same month. The agreement allowed for an upsizing to $450 million.

The proceeds of the latest loan would go towards  repayment of an outstanding amount of $233 million under an existing bridge loan facility and for general corporate purposes, according to the company.

''The upsizing of the existing Axis facility following Exim Bank's agreement to lend a further US$300 million marks a further milestone in our programme to strengthen our balance sheet and improve liquidity within Essar Energy,'' Deepak Maheshwari, chief financial officer of Essar Energy, said in a statement. ''We continue to make good progress with our refinancing activities across our power and oil and gas businesses to lower risk, lower costs and extend repayment maturity time frames.''