Global commodity trader Trafigura is set to secure a new sustainability-linked revolving credit facility (RCF) as it works to cut its carbon footprint and boost renewables, though the firm says it has no plans to shift away from oil in the coming years.
Having published its first ever emissions reduction target in a responsibility report last month – which will see the commodity trader work to cut its own direct and indirect emissions by 30% in the next three years – Trafigura is preparing to sign a sustainability-linked RCF in March.
In an interview with
GTR, Trafigura’s Laurent Christophe, group treasurer at the Swiss-based trader, says the company will ink a new sustainability-linked multi-currency RCF in late March with two separate tranches.
Global shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has secured an export credit agency (ECA)-backed syndicated green loan from a group of nearly a dozen banks.
BNP Paribas and German development bank KfW Ipex-Bank structured and coordinated the US$417mn facility, which will be used to finance the firm’s purchase of three container ships from South Korea.
Nine other banks took part in the deal, which has a 12-year maturity date and is backed by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure).
This particular agreement provides financing for three out of a total of six ultra-large container ships ordered by Hapag-Lloyd in December, with the vessels now due to be constructed in Korea and delivered in 2023.
BNP Paribas has announced plans to cut financing to companies involved in Brazilian deforestation, though investigative campaign groups say the commitment is “weak” and lacking in urgency.
According to a statement issued by the bank on February 15, financial products or services will only be provided to companies that have a strategy to achieve zero deforestation. The strategy must be in place by 2025, and be effective across their production and supply chains.
The measure targets producers and traders active in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado regions, and follows stinging criticism from environmental groups
“Financial institutions exposed to the agricultural sector in Brazil must contribute to this fight against deforestation,” the statement says. “This is the case for BNP Paribas, which is one of the foreign banks present in the country and which has certain international customers, producers or dealers who are directly concerned.”
Product liability & compliance
We’d be happy to discuss your Brexit transition across these areas. Please reach out to your Cooley contact if you have any questions.
Antitrust & competition
What changes can be expected for UK competition law?
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement does not bring major changes to UK competition law. Whilst the agreement presents a slightly different terminology to what we are familiar with, the common principles appear largely the same as under the existing regime. In terms of jurisdiction, the European Commission continues to be the competent authority for UK antitrust cases initiated before 31 December 2020. The only exception to this rule is where the anticompetitive conduct is still ongoing at the end of the transition period and may have an effect on trade in the UK. In those circumstances, the UK Competition and Markets Authority may investigate facts from 1 January 2021 onwards. For all other cases that have not been formally initiated
US authorities say companies in Iran are using forged shipping documents, vessel impersonation techniques and UAE-based front companies to circumvent sanctions and export oil.
The US Department of Justice makes the allegations in a forfeiture claim filed in early February. It is attempting to seize 2 million barrels of oil currently aboard Achilleas, a Liberia-flagged tanker, that it says originates in Iran and is being sold to support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it has designated as a terrorist organisation.
“Profits from oil sales support the IRGC’s full range of nefarious activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and a variety of human rights abuses, at home and abroad,” the department says.