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There are many producers located in emerging markets whose credit ratings are below investment grade and are therefore unable to readily obtain lending on a clean, unsecured basis. The ability of these producers to raise cheap finance is usually hindered by the rating of the country in which they are situated.

 
 


In order to support their activities, international banks extend to eligible entities structured trade finance loan facilities such as pre-export, prepayment and tolling finance, using structuring techniques that have evolved over the past 25-30 years to either mitigate or eliminate entirely the transfer and payment risks associated with the borrower and the borrower's country of operation. By using these structuring techniques, the credit profile of the borrower is substituted by the risk profile of the structure itself and the lending bank is only exposed to the performance risk of the borrower as the payment risk has been switched to another more credit worthy counterparty located in a more stable country.

Such structures are commonly utilised in many markets, including the CIS, South America and parts of Africa and Asia. Financing can be given on both a short and medium term basis, principally to producers of fungible commodities (softs, energy, ferrous and non-ferrous metals that can easily be converted to cash), including related by-products, semi-finished and finished goods. The purpose of the finance may be to refinance existing financial indebtedness, working capital needs and investments in connection with the production and export of products.

Each structured finance transaction is unique, but typical common elements include:

    Pre-Export Finance
  • Assignment of export contracts , covering the deliveries of products in aggregate quantities sufficient to enable the borrower to meet its debt service obligations
  • A charge over the collection account opened by the borrower with the lending bank into which will flow all export proceeds to be applied towards debt service
  • An Offtaker of the product locked in for the entire duration of the transaction by virtue of the export contract and on which the lending bank is taking payment risk
  • A Standby Offtaker to replace the principal offtaker in the event of non-payment
  • A Debt Service Cover ratio providing over-collateralisation, typically 120% – 150% of each debt service to allow for any small short-term commodity price fluctuations
    Prepayment Finance
  • Similar to pre-export finance, but structurally the offtaker is the borrower, who then lends to the producer
  • Recourse to the offtaker is normally limited and dependent upon performance by the producer
  • Security structure includes:
    • Assignment over Export Contract
    • Assignment over Collection Account
    • Over-collateralisation
    Tolling
  • Involves financing the conversion process of raw materials into semi-finished or finished products
  • The supplier retains title to the raw materials and will be the offtaker for the refined product
  • Raw materials are delivered to the mill / refinery by the supplier
  • The ability of the processor to process raw materials and the offtaker's payment risk are the key risk factors for the lending bank
  • The security structure is similar to pre-export transactions, and includes:
    • Assignment over Export Contract
    • Assignment over Collection Account
    • Over-collateralisation
 
 
 
 
 

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