FertiNitro Completes Financing for Ammonia and Urea Fertilizer Plants in Venezuela.WICHITA, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 1998--Four international firms announced today they have closed on the financing of Fertilizantes Nitrogenados de Venezuela, Fertinitro, C.E.C. ("FertiNitro,"), an entity formed to build, own and operate an ammonia and urea production facility in Venezuela. FertiNitro successfully raised $810 million of financing in the U.S. 144A bond market and the syndicated bank market to construct the facility. Design work for the complex began in December 1997, ground will be broken in early summer, and the facility is expected to begin operation in 2000. FertiNitro is owned by Petroquimica de Venezuela S.A. (Pequiven); Koch Jose Cayman Limited, an affiliate of Koch Nitrogen Company; Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V., an affiliate of Snamprogetti S.p.A.; and an affiliate of Empresas Polar Empresas Polar is a Venezuelan corporation, that started as a brewery founded in 1941 by Lorenzo Alejandro Mendoza Fleury in AntÃmano, Caracas. It is the largest and best known brewery in Venezuela, but has since long diversified to an array of industries, mostly related to food . The financing includes a US$250 million bond issue which will mature in 2020. The bonds were rated Baa3, BBB BBB A medium grade assigned to a debt obligation by a rating agency to indicate an adequate ability to pay interest and repay principal. However, adverse developments are more likely to impair this ability than would be the case for bonds rated A and above. and BBB by Moody's, Duff & Phelps and Fitch IBCA IBCA International Braille Chess Association IBCA Institute of Burial and Cremation Administration IBCA Integrated Business Communications Alliance IBCA International Barbeque Cookers Association IBCA Department of Interior Board of Contract Appeals , respectively. Citibank N.A., NationsBank, N.A. and Mediocredito Centrale S.p.A., arranged and syndicated the bank facility. The billion-dollar project, being built in the Jose Petrochemical Complex in northeast Venezuela, will consist of two ammonia and two urea plants, producing 1.3 million metric tons of ammonia and 1.5 million metric tons of urea per year. Affiliates of Koch Nitrogen and Pequiven, leading suppliers of ammonia and urea to North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. and Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. , will market all of the project's output pursuant to a long term offtake Off´take` n. 1. Act of taking off; specif., the taking off or purchase of goods. 2. Something taken off; a deduction. 3. A channel for taking away air or water; also, the point of beginning of such a channel; a take-off. contract. PDVSA PDVSA Petroleos De Venezuela, SA Gas, a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), will supply the project's gas needs pursuant to a long-term contract. Snamprogetti S.p.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Eni S.p.A. of Italy, will construct the facility pursuant to a lump-sum turnkey contract. Pequiven is the petrochemical-focused affiliate of PDVSA, the national energy company of Venezuela, which is involved in all aspects of the energy business. Pequiven's fertilizer group is responsible for production and commercialization of various fertilizer products. Pequiven has an installed capacity of nitrogen-based fertilizers of 1.8 million tons per year and exports approximately 800,000 tons annually to the Latin American markets, making it the region's largest urea manufacturer and supplier. Koch Nitrogen Company is a worldwide trader and producer of nitrogen-based fertilizer products. Koch Nitrogen is a subsidiary of Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. (pronounced "koke") is a private corporation based in Wichita, Kansas. According to Forbes Magazine, it is the largest privately owned company in the world by revenue (surpassing Cargill in 2005 with the acquisition of Georgia-Pacific), with subsidiaries , Inc., the second-largest privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. in the United States with regard to revenue, as ranked by Forbes. Koch Industries and its subsidiaries employ more than 16,000 people worldwide and are involved in virtually all phases of the oil and gas industry, as well as agriculture, chemicals, chemical technology products, energy services, metals and minerals services, real estate and financial investments. Koch Jose Cayman Limited is owned by an affiliate of Koch Nitrogen and a subsidiary of the AIG-GE Capital Latin American Infrastructure Fund L.P. (LAIF LAIF Legal Aspects of International Financial Institutions (IMF) LAIF Los Angeles Immigrant Funders Collaborative ). LAIF is a private equity fund that invests in infrastructure projects in Latin America. Snamprogetti is a leading international contractor for downstream process industry and energy infrastructure. Snamprogetti has extensive experience in building fertilizer plants worldwide. Its presence in Venezuela dates back to 1970s and includes close cooperation with Pequiven in the construction of petrochemical plants. Snamprogetti will provide engineering, procurement and construction  The introduction to this article is vague. To comply with Wikipedia's guidelines, it should be improved. services to build the FertiNitro facility and provide the urea process technology. Haldor Topsoe, an affiliate of Snamprogetti, will provide the ammonia process technology. The Polar Group is the largest privately-held industrial conglomerate in Venezuela in terms of revenues and a leader in the Venezuelan beer, corn flour, edible oil, rice, ice cream and snacks markets. The Group is a major participant in soft drinks, pasta and packaging. It also invests in joint ventures with leading local and international firms in the areas of manufacturing, finance, distribution, oil and petrochemicals. The bonds have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. CONTACT: KOCH Industries, Wichita Jay Rosser, 316/828-7462 |
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