China Eximbank Preps Jumbo Ecuador Loan

The Export-Import Bank of China is preparing to stump up the majority of financing for a $2bn Chinese-built hydroelectric plant in Ecuador. The facility should be more than 10 years in tenor, Wang Yinfu, deputy general manager at SinoHydro, tells LatinFinance. SinoHydro was recently awarded a contract to build the 1,500MW Coca Coda Sinclair project by Ecuador’s government. Wang declines to specify the exact amount of the financing. “The project is a priority for the Ecuadorian government, so there is a strong demand. In the financial crisis [the government] would like contractors to help them get financing, and that’s exactly what we did for them,” Wang says on a panel at the LatinFinance Latin America China Investors Forum this week in Beijing. He notes that although Ecuador is a smaller market, it has encountered fewer challenges to entry than others in LatAm, because of strong government support. SinoHydro is very interested in pursuing opportunity in larger markets like Brazil and Colombia, Wang adds.