Refinancing: Petrobras numbers man Almir Barbassa
Petrobras eyes refinancing of $5bn loan
Petrobras chief financial officer Almir Barbassa said the Brazilian energy giant is likely to refinance the remaining $5 billion of a $6.5 billion bridge loan by selling debt in tranches as it seeks to pay for soaring investments.
The company may sell debt in $1 billion tranches during as many as two years to refinance the loan, Barbassa told reporters in Sao Paulo.
Banco do Brasil, Banco Santander, HSBC Holdings, JPMorgan Chase & Company, Citigroup and Societe Generale, which lent the cash, will manage the debt sales, he said.
“Doing it all in one tranche is, I think, too big for the market to handle,” Barbassa said today
Petrobras’s five-year $174.4 billion investment plan has led to capital expenditures of almost $100 million per day, a Bloomberg report said.
The spending plan is 55% larger than the previous programme.
China is willing to lend the Rio de Janeiro-based company more than the $10 billion already agreed to in exchange for it buying more Chinese goods, Barbassa said.
Rising spending, along with greater dependence on loans from Brazilian government-controlled banks, led Moody’s Investors Service to cut Petrobras’ global local-currency debt rating one level on 18 June.
Moody’s cut the rating to A3, the fourth-highest investment grade, from A2.
The oil producer’s debt levels are “low” considering the company’s size and expansion plans, Barbassa added.