Yangzijiang subsidiary to provide credit facility to chairman's unit

A WHOLLY-OWNED subsidiary of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has agreed to provide a revolving credit facility of up to 1.56 billion yuan (S$301.7 million) to Jiangyin Xinyangchuan Enterprise Management Center, the mainboard-listed company said in a bourse filing late on Thursday.

Yangzijiang executive chairman Ren Yuanlin and his son, chief executive Ren Letian, have a 41 per cent stake in Xinyangchuan, which is a limited partnership established in China that invests in energy, manufacturing and property development companies.

The credit facility follows a master facility agreement signed between Xinyangchuan and Yangzijiang subsidiary Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding (JNYS) on April 16.

Yangzijiang said that the credit facility is beneficial to the group as it uses excess cash from JNYS's working capital requirements, and the interest payments represent an additional source of revenue for the subsidiary.

The credit facility will be used by Xinyangchuan strictly for its working capital requirements. It has an interest rate of 8 per cent per annum, accruing on a daily basis, and matures on March 31, 2025.

Under the terms of the facility, Xinyangchuan's net asset value must not fall under 1.5 billion yuan, and its annual return on net assets must be above 8 per cent.

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Xinyangchuan will provide security, including pledges of group assets, at a proposed loan-to-value ratio of 50 per cent with each drawdown request, subject to approval by JNYS.

Yangzijiang shares were trading up S$0.03 or 3 per cent at S$1.06 as at 9.01am on Friday.