Cheniere Energy, Inc. has engaged 18 financial institutions to act as Joint Lead Arrangers to assist in the structuring and arranging of up to US$11.5 billion of debt facilities.
The proceeds will be used to pay for the costs of development and construction of the LNG export facility and related pipeline being developed near Corpus Christi, Texas and for general business purposes. As previously disclosed, estimated capital costs for the proposed liquefaction project of US$11.5 billion to US$12.0 billion, before financing and pipeline facilities, are expected to be funded from a combination of debt and equity financings.
The 18 arrangers are: Bank of America, BNP Paribas Securities, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ING Capital, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Bank, Mizuho Bank, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Société Générale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Standard Chartered Bank, and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
"Our core banking group for the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project consists of a strong group of financial institutions and we look forward to our continued relationships with these banks, the majority of which participated in our Sabine Pass liquefaction project. We have now received the equity and debt commitments needed to support the financing of the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project. We are continuing to make progress on our Corpus Christi liquefaction project and expect to commence construction in early 2015," said Charif Souki, Chairman and CEO.
Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward