China’s COSCO Secures $26 Billion Financing Pledge

File photo: REUTERS/Barry Huang

SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (Reuters) – COSCO Shipping Corporation said policy lender China Development Bank has pledged to provide it with 180 billion yuan ($26 billion) in financing in the years through 2021 to support the Chinese shipping giant’s business development.

Cosco Shipping said in a statement on its website late on Wednesday that the financing would be provided through various financial products. It did not provide details of how the financing would be used, but said the agreement was to serve China’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy and efforts to deepen state-owned enterprise reform.

Formed through the merger of China’s two largest shipping companies in February, COSCO Shipping owns the world’s fourth-largest container shipping fleet by capacity, run by its flagship listed unit, China COSCO Holdings .

The company is one of the earliest results of China’s mission to reform its bloated state sector and has been suffering losses. In October, its container shipping arm warned of a full-year loss.

($1 = 6.9111 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017.

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