Eksfin’s guarantees support OMS Group’s financing of two new cable-laying vessels, CS Resilience and CS Alliance, which are scheduled for delivery from Ulstein Verft in 2028
Export Finance Norway (Eksfin) is providing guarantees of up to USD 183 million to support OMS Group’s long-term financing of two new cable-laying vessels being built by Norwegian shipbuilder Ulstein.
The vessels will strengthen OMS Group’s capacity to install and maintain subsea fibre-optic cables, which form a critical part of the global telecommunications infrastructure carrying international data traffic.
Financing has now been secured for OMS Group’s four-vessel newbuilding programme, with the two vessels backed by Eksfin’s guarantees named CS Resilience and CS Alliance.
Designed by Ulstein Design & Solutions AS, both vessels will be constructed at Ulstein Verft in Norway, with deliveries scheduled for 2028.
Each vessel will measure 130 metres in length and have the capacity to carry up to 6,500 tonnes of fibre-optic cable, providing additional capability for subsea cable installation and maintenance operations.
Eksfin is supporting the transaction both during construction and through guarantees for OMS Group’s long-term bank financing.
“Our role is to support Norwegian exporters competing internationally. By financing Ulstein and OMS Group at different stages of this transaction, we help Norwegian suppliers secure business contracts abroad,” says Tone Lunde Bakker, CEO of Eksfin.
“Financing is an important part of competing for international shipbuilding contracts. Working closely with Eksfin and the banks has helped us put this transaction together,” says CFO Johannes Volle at Ulstein.
OMS Group is a global, neutral and integrated digital infrastructure service provider with capabilities spanning subsea cable installation and maintenance, cable landing stations and marine and terrestrial connectivity. Its four new fibre-optic cable-laying vessels, scheduled for delivery in 2027 and 2028, will expand its capacity to meet growing demand for subsea connectivity.
Eksfin’s guarantee supports financing for the two vessels from Ulstein. The other two cable-laying vessels will be built at a Dutch owned yard in Vietnam, with financing supported by Atradius Dutch State Business N.V.
Commercial banks are providing the loans under the export credit agency-backed facilities. Standard Chartered and HSBC acted as joint global coordinators, bookrunners and ECA coordinators for the transaction.
