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Biman scopes out financiers for aircraft purchase

Sohel Parvez
Biman Bangladesh Airlines is on the lookout for financiers to make pre-delivery payments (PDP) for purchasing Boeing aircraft, aiming to further boost the once-struggling national carrier.
Initially, the airline seeks a consortium of banks to gather the pre-delivery amount that totals about $249 million, which needs to be paid in phases within 2013, the year the first consignment is expected.
The first PDP instalment, equalling to about $32 million, will have to be paid between July and December this year, people familiar with the matter said.
"We are considering options like raising funds from a consortium of banks, to make the predelivery payment to Boeing," Mahbub Jamil, immediate past special assistant to the chief adviser, told The Daily Star recently.
Jamil, who recently stepped down from the reconstituted board of Biman, disclosed that the national carrier plans to start making the PDP from the middle of this year.
Bankers, however, said the move to manage finances through a consortium of banks, without any government guarantee, might be bumpy for Biman.
But on the ground of Biman's projected cash
flows, financers are expected to come forward.
Given the turmoil in the global financial markets, it may be tough for Biman to collect funds from global markets, they added.
Gripped by aircraft shortages, Biman sealed a deal worth about $2.5 billion with Boeing in June last year to acquire 10 new aircraft.
Questions were raised as to how the purchase would be carried out without government guarantee, given the carriers' fund constraints.
The carrier paid $ 1.54 million in confirmation fees from its own funds for the purchase of the Boeing aircraft last year.
Biman, a piiblic limited company (Plc) since July 2007, earlier said that it wanted to collect about 85 percent of the required funds, based on the guarantee it would avail from the US-based Exim Bank. It also planned to borrow the remaining portion of money from a consortium of banks.
Officials said Exim Bank might assess Biman's
overall performance by 2012 and if performance of the carrier fails to satisfy the bank, it may seek sovereign guarantee.
Jamil hoped that the sovereign guarantee against the bank's guarantee might not be required, as Bangladesh has become the signatory of the Cape Town Convention. Ratification of the treaty means a reduction of risks to aircraft financiers as it allows global lenders to take control of aircraft, in case of default.
“Bangladesh, being the Cape Town Convention signatory, may not need sovereign guarantee,” Jamil pointed out.
Officials hope that the carrier will be better off after addition of the new aircraft to its existing fleet of a dozen , which is currently comprised of leased and decade-old fuel- guzzler aircraft.
"We are looking at all the options and exploring all the possibilities. We are hopeful that we will be able to manage the fund," said Biman spokesperson Nafees Ahmed Imtiazuddin.
He said Biman is in talks with some banks to collect the money. “It can either be for the entire sum of the pre-delivery payment or a portion of it," he said, adding that it also has plans to seek global financiers.
Another option available for the carrier, the official said, is to sell off shares to the public through the stock exchange in line with a government plan to offload 49 percent of its stake in Biman.
Ali Reza Iftekhar, managing director and chief executive officer of Eastern Bank, said it is possible to finance Biman by syndication.
“We are definitely interested to lend to Biman, which is a prospective company and can generate a healthy cash flow,” Iftekhar said. "Government guarantee is not necessary. Banks can finance assessing Biman's projected cash flow."
He said Biman has no problem getting passengers, but it faces a severe shortage in aircraft.
If Biman wants loan in a foreign currency, it has to go through a foreign bank. It can also obtain a portion of the loan in the local currency from local banks, said Touhidul Islam, head of the Structured Finance Unit of Prime Bank.
But another banker said bankers may not be confident enough to finance Biman, unless the government offers guarantee.
“It appears that Biman's cash flow may not be healthy enough to repay the loan in the next couple of years. The government guarantee is critical,” the official observed. "If government assures payback, it is possible to arrange the funds.”
However, Biman officials are hopeful that the carrier might not need the guarantee from the government due to improvements in its cash flow. In the fiscal year 2007-08, the national airline was back in the black after four years.
sohel@thedailystar.net