London-headquartered HSBC, in cooperation with Italy’s official export credit agency ( ECA ) SACE and German lender Landesbank Baden-Württemberg ( LBBW ), has entered an agreement to provide a SACE Push facility for Vietnamese company GELEX Infrastructure.

The five-year trading facility, with a total value of around US$40 million, receives SACE’s comprehensive financial guarantee covering 80% of the loan. The funding aims to support Hanoi-based GELEX Infrastructure’s capital expenditure, namely investment in its core business to facilitate its long-term growth strategies.

The SACE Push facility is financed by HSBC Singapore, and LBBW will act as the mandated lead arranger. HSBC Singapore and HSBC Vietnam will act as sole ECA coordinating bank, facility and security agent, and account bank.

GELEX Infrastructure is part of GELEX Group, an investor and developer that has business projects across Vietnam in energy, industrial real estate, social housing, construction materials, and clean water production and supply.

The SACE Push programme from Italy, launched in 2017, aims to promote bilateral trade between Vietnam and Italy by connecting buyers and suppliers in both markets. The ECA initiative provides the guarantee for long-term financing without restricting the nature of goods and with no requirement for available contracts between buyers, or borrowers, and Italian suppliers.

In the programme, participating buyers may enjoy easier access to funding thanks to SACE’s financial guarantee, and receive SACE’s economic incentive once a target amount of procurement from Italy is reached within an agreed period from the signing of the trading facility. Both buyers and suppliers will have opportunities to join SACE’s match-making events, increasing opportunities to find suitable business partners.

LBBW is a full service commercial and central bank for savings banks in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony in Germany and focuses on industrial technologies, information technology, software, telecommunications, innovative services and life science.

This is the second time that HSBC has arranged a SACE Push facility for a Vietnamese company, following the successful deal for Ho Chi Minh City-based dairy products and food manufacturer Nutifood in 2021.

The deal, says Le Tuan Anh, GELEX Group’s deputy CEO, is expected to open up more possible opportunities for its cooperation with HSBC in other projects in the future.

Tim Evans, HSBC Vietnam’s CEO and head of banking, adds: “The deal’s success once again evidences how HSBC’s wide international network, deep expertise and thorough understanding of the local market allows us to meet the demands as Vietnamese companies continue to become more and more sophisticated in their financing needs.”