Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. has closed on the previously announced approximately $2.8 billion of senior secured credit facilities. The four-year credit facilities consist of an approximately $450 million Cheniere Creole Trail Pipeline, L.P. ("CCTP") tranche term loan, an approximately $2.1 billion Sabine Pass LNG, L.P. ("SPLNG") tranche term loan, and an approximately $240 million revolving credit facility. Pricing for these facilities is London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 225 basis points or the base rate plus 125 basis points, in each case with a 50 basis point step-up beginning on the third anniversary of the closing.
Proceeds from these new credit facilities will be used by Cheniere Partners (i) to prepay the $400 million senior secured term loan at CCTP, (ii) to redeem or repay the approximately $1.7 billion senior secured notes due 2016 and the $420 million senior secured notes due 2020 that were issued by SPLNG, (iii) to pay associated transaction costs and make-whole amounts, if any, and (iv) for general business purposes of Cheniere Partners and its subsidiaries.
"We are pleased to announce the closing of these credit facilities, which allow us to efficiently refinance upcoming maturities at SPLNG and CCTP. In addition, this refinancing improves our debt maturity profile as subsequent to the repayment of our obligations at SPLNG and CCTP, the earliest debt maturity at Cheniere Partners is in 2020," said Neal Shear, Chairman of the Board and interim CEO of Cheniere Partners.
The 16 arrangers and other participants are The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., ABN AMRO Capital USA LLC, Société Générale, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, New York Branch, Intesa Sanpaolo, S.P.A. New York Branch, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Mizuho Bank, Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., Bank of America, N.A., Credit Suisse, HSBC Bank USA, N.A., Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, New York Branch, ING Capital LLC, and FirstBank Florida.
Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, SPLNG, Cheniere Partners owns 100 percent of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal located on the Sabine-Neches Waterway less than four miles from the Gulf Coast. The Sabine Pass LNG terminal includes existing infrastructure of five LNG storage tanks with capacity of approximately 16.9 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe), two docks that can accommodate vessels with nominal capacity of up to 266,000 cubic meters and vaporizers with regasification capacity of approximately 4.0 Bcf/d. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary CCTP, Cheniere Partners also owns a 94-mile pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG terminal with a number of large interstate pipelines.