Reliance Industries gets USD 2.1 bn credit support from US Ex-Im Bank

Reliance Industries today said it has received USD 2.1 billion credit support, including direct loan of USD 1.06 billion, from US-based Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank.

The debt will primarily be used for expansion of projects at Jamnagar, Gujarat.

"The Board of Ex-Im Bank has voted to extend the single largest financing transaction of USD 2.1 billion to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). This includes a USD 1.06 billion direct loan and to guarantee a USD 1.06 billion JPMorgan Chase loan to the company," RIL said in a statement.

The loan amount will be primarily used to finance goods and services procured from exporters and suppliers in the US as part of Reliance's expansion projects at Jamnagar, it added.

Commenting on the development, Reliance Chief Financial Officer Alok Agarwal said: "We are once again partnering with major US suppliers for cutting edge technology, critical project management services and equipment from a wide section of American exporters for rolling out our next phase of growth."

In a separate statement, the foreign lender had yesterday said the credit approval represents Reliance's first attempt at funding through the capital markets with an Ex-Im Bank guaranteed bond issuance.

The credit will support approximately 12,300 US jobs, according to bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology, US.

Moreover, six per cent of the financing is expected to support American small businesses.

Among the more than 65 exporters and suppliers involved in the transaction are Fluor Corporation, Lummus Technology, Univation Technologies LLC, Bechtel and ConocoPhillips.

Located on the Gulf of Kutch, the Jamnagar complex oversees the largest single-location refinery operation in the world, Ex-Im Bank had said.

Reliance intends to increase the complex's petrochemical output by constructing a petcoke gasification unit that will top the world's rosters in size and enhance the efficiency of the company's refinery business.

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