TREASURY Secretary Dairi Vele has told the Commission of Inquiry into the Union Bank of Switzerland K3 Billion loan that the Central Bank had recommended the overseas bank to re-finance an exchangeable bond. According to an affidavit by Vele, Governor of BPNG Loi Bakani had written to UBS regarding the re-financing of the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) loan and advised that the State accepted its proposal to re-finance the IPIC exchangeable bond by a rollover collar and term loan. Vele said Bakani requested the UBS to confirm in writing its commitment to fund the AU$1.7 billion IPIC exchangeable bond. “However, we still did not know what IPIC would be doing.”
Vele said prior to the UBS advice from BPNG, there was a committee which he chaired at one time. He said the committee was looking for a financial adviser “who would give us optionality around an outcome or the election of IPIC”. “Some stage throughout the process, (Public Enterprise) Minister (Ben) Micah ran a separate process. “Through his process, City Bank and UBS were the ones the committee chose,” he said. “I wasn’t part of the process. “The government said why don’t we get the BPNG involved and see or review what has been done and have discussions with the bank on what has been done while the minister may have said to the governor of the bank (Bakani). “This is the outcome of the process. It seem to me from a financial advisory perspective that UBS seem appropriate,” Vele said. Next: PNG Government Urged To Pass Laws To Reserve Businesses For Locals Comments are closed.
|
Papua New Guinea Business NewsWe cover all Papua New Guinea and International business news on this page. Please subscribe to our latest business on the subscribe form available on this page. |