Wallenius Wilhelmsen gets loans worth $800m for emission reductions

Oslo-listed car carrier operator Wallenius Wilhelmsen has secured $800m worth of vessel-secured bank financing linked to the company’s emission reductions.

The facilities consist of two new financing deals signed with 11 banks at the end of June, of which $670m was drawn down, mainly to repay $569m of existing vessel debt, while the remaining $130m is available as a revolving credit line and can be used for general corporate purposes.

The financings are issued under Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s sustainability-linked financing framework. Interest margins will be adjusted on an annual basis, and if the company achieves the interim CO2-intensity target, the margin will be reduced by 0.05 percentage points for the next year.

The agreements are secured by 20 vessels with an average age of 12 years and a market value of $1.4bn. As part of the transaction, five older vessels became debt free, increasing the company’s unencumbered fleet to 12 vessels. The company’s CO2 equivalent intensity was reduced by 33.6% from 2008 to 2019 and is expected to reduce a further 27.5% from 2019 to 2030.