IFC leads in US$300m loan facility for China Gas expansion

International Finance Corporation (IFC) has led the arrangement of US$300 million in loan facilities for China Gas Holding, to help finance the natural gas distributor's expansion and the mainland's drive to replace coal with gas to cut air pollution.

It was IFC's largest financing commitment in the East Asia-Pacific region, and part of its plan to fund more than US$1 billion of mainland infrastructure projects in the next 12 to 18 months, IFCs' global head of oil and gas Lance Crist said yesterday.

"The demand for investment in infrastructure around the world exceeds US$1 trillion, and multilateral financing institutions [like the IFC] provide only 5 to 10 per cent of infrastructure funding," he said. "There is room for collaboration with other institutions."

He said IFC had cooperated with the Asia Development Bank and would be open to working with the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which is being established.

The IFC is the private sector arm of the Washington-based World Bank.

The US$300 million of loan facilities consist of a US$86 million loan provided by IFC's own funds, US$64 million from a syndicated loan managed by the IFC but supplied by other institutional investors, and a US$150 million syndicated loan from 19 commercial financial institutions.