Danish energy company Orsted A/S yesterday signed a five-year NT$25 billion (US$801.92 million) revolving loan facility agreement with 15 state-owned and private banks for its offshore wind farm projects off Changhua County.
Bank of Taiwan (BOT, 台灣銀行), BNP Paribas SA and Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) are to serve as the mandated lead arrangers for the loan facility.
The three banks would provide loans of NT$3 billion each, while the other 12 banks would be responsible for the remaining NT$16 billion.
“The interest rate is 1.7 percent,” BOT vice president Lillian Lin (林麗婈) told a news conference in Taipei.
The other 7 state-run banks include Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), Chang Hwa Bank (彰化銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (台灣土地銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣中小企銀).
The remaining 5 private banks are E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), KGI Bank (凱基銀行) and Deutsche Bank AG.
The offshore wind power industry is new to Taiwan, presenting unknown factors, Lin said, adding that banks are nonetheless willing to participate as the duration of the loans is short, allowing them to test new waters.
The feed-in tariffs at which Orsted would be providing wind-powered electricity are a strong guarantee that the company should have steady cash flow, Lin said.
The deal is Orsted’s first step toward establishing a green financial framework in Taiwan.
The company plans to issue New Taiwan dollar-denominated green bonds later this year, it said.
Orsted plans to invest up to about NT$380 billion in its four wind farms off Changhua, with an initial investment of NT$165 billion, said Allan Andersen, head of finance distribution and customer solutions, and treasury and risk management at Orsted.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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