WEB signs financing agreement with AIB BANK

February 14, 2011 6:27 AM

ORANJESTAD - Last Monday, January 31, the Director of W.E.B. Aruba NV, Mr. O.J. Boekhoudt, signed an agreement with AIB BANK about the financing of a total of 277 million florins.

W.E.B. Aruba NV, together with AIB BANK, representing 16 local and international financial entities, has succeeded in reducing the interest rate to less than 6%, a substantial achievement.

The financing covers those previously made by W.E.B. Aruba NV as well as new ones for buying new equipments, such as the new electricity production plant and the water plant II. The electrical plant will be operational sometime in 2011. The water plant will start production in 2012.

Refinancing existing projects: At the moment W.E.B. Aruba NV pays an annual interest rate of 7% on most of its investments. Considering this newly obtained reduction of the  interest rate, this is expected to bring down the costs of financing by 500 thousand florins yearly or 5 million florins for the duration of the loan.

New financing for new equipment: W.E.B. Aruba NV continues to invest in new and more efficient equipment in order to replace some of the older units, like its boiler system and the Aquachem. The decrease in interest rate will reduce financing costs by approximately 1 million florins per year or 10 million florins for the duration of the loan.

The new units will reduce consumption of fuel oil by 25 to 30% compared to the old units. When fully operational and based upon current fuel price levels, this will result in a reduction of operational costs of approximately 12 to 15%, the equivalent of 40 to 60 million florins each year. Representatives of W.E.B. Aruba NV, AIB BANK, Utilities Aruba NV and the Board of Commissioners of W.E.B. Aruba NV were present as the agreement was signed. There were also representatives of local and international financial institutions.

The management of W.E.B. Aruba NV would like to express its gratitude to its staff, Board of Commissioners, Utilities Aruba NV, the Aruban Government and the Minister of Finance and Utilities, AIB BANK and all participating financial entities, as well as to those who in one way or another made their contributions to this achievement. This way they have shown their trust in W.E.B. Aruba NV. Furthermore, the management makes a call for continued efforts to keep reducing operational costs of W.E.B. Aruba NV.

(Source: National newspaper Diario)

3 February 2011

VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne's lawyers Focco Lunsingh Scheurleer, Kimberley de L'Isle and Laurien Dumas assisted AIB BANK and the Lenders in this transaction.