Posted on 16 Feb 2009
Hoa Phat to seek US$36.5m loan for steel factory
Hoa Phat Group Joint-Stock Co., a steel and real estate company, plans to borrow 637.5 billion dong (US$36.5 million) from the Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam (Bidv) to build a steel plant.
The lender, would charge around 3% above its deposit rates for the three-and-a-half year loan, Hoa Phat said on its website.
The plant, to be based in the northern province of Hai Duong, will require an investment of 2.2 trillion dong (US$126.22 million) and have a capacity of 320,000 tonnes a year, according to a statement on the central bank's website.
The State Bank of Vietnam on January 23 cut its benchmark interest rate for the sixth time since October, reducing it to 7% from 8.5%, and asked banks to spur lending in an attempt to avert an economic slowdown.
The economy expanded 6.2% last year, its slowest pace since 1999.
Bidv, Vietnam's second -biggest bank, lent Hoa Phat 510 billion dong in 2008, Hoa Phat said on its website.
