Finnvera covering export credit financing for Montes del Plata pulp mill project in Uruguay
The 12-year USD 900 million export credit guaranteed by Finnvera will be used to finance deliveries from Finland by Andritz Oy and Pöyry Finland Oy for the pulp mill project in Uruguay.
Funding for the credit guaranteed by Finnvera will be provided by Finnish Export Credit Ltd. The borrower is Celulosa y Energía Punta Pereira S.A., a joint venture that operates the Montes del Plata pulp mill and was established by the Chilean forest company Arauco and Stora Enso. The holder of Finnvera’s guarantee is Fortis Bank, which also acts as the agent for the credit. The total debt financing of about USD 1.35 billion is implemented in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank. The commercial banks participating in the arrangement are BNP Paribas, DnB NOR, Nordea and Santander.
Andritz Oy serves as the principal supplier of equipment for the project, while Pöyry Finland Oy is responsible for planning and project management services. The Finnish supplies will have an employment impact of about 1,000 person-years.
It is common for buyers to require that Finnish exporters have Finnvera’s export credit guarantee even before submitting a tender, and often a guarantee is a prerequisite for concluding a deal. The guarantee arrangement promotes the business of Finnish export companies and benefits the Finnish economy.
The latest technology in use
The pulp mill will be built in the Punta Pereira free trade zone in Uruguay. The mill is the largest private industrial investment in Uruguay’s history and an important milestone for the country’s forest industry. The mill project uses state-of-the-art technology for pulp mills and is grounded in the best available technical solutions and environmental protection practices.
Production at the Montes del Plata pulp mill will rely on cultivated eucalyptus raw material. The project will create new jobs and well-being: Estimates indicate that the mill will have an impact of 0.8 per cent on Uruguay’s gross domestic product during the construction phase, and once the production starts, the impact will be two per cent.
The mill is scheduled to begin operations during the first half of 2013. Its production capacity will be 1.3 million tonnes of pulp per year.
Additional information:
Topi Vesteri, Executive Vice President, tel. +358 20 460 7238
