The Singapore office of Watson, Farley & Williams LLP (“WFW”) is pleased to announce that it has advised a syndicate of banks led by The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. as agent and UniCredit Bank AG, Singapore Branch as security trustee in relation to a US$479,557,744 term facility provided to FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd, as trustee-manager for First Ship Lease Trust, to refinance its existing credit facility.

The syndicate of banks comprised ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Singapore Branch, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Singapore Branch, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., UniCredit Bank AG, Singapore Branch, The Korea Development Bank, ITF International Transport Finance Suisse AG and KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH.  

The US$479,557,744 term facility is secured on First Ship Lease Trust’s fleet of 25 ships which are on charter to a variety of international owners and operators. The transaction involved co-ordination with local counsel and/or registries in Singapore, England, the Marshall Islands, Malta, Taiwan, Indonesia, Cyprus, Liberia, Panama, Italy and the Bahamas.

First Ship Lease Trust is a Singapore registered business trust listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and specialises in non-tax driven leasing services to the global shipping industry.  

Goh Mei Lin, partner in the WFW Singapore office, led the team and was assisted by Shawn Er and Hayley Arrow.