AET, the Singapore-headquartered owner and operator of maritime transportation assets and specialised services, has taken out a US$100 million sustainability-linked Islamic revolving credit facility from Maybank Singapore.

On Friday (Dec 1), the lender noted that this marks the first facility of its kind in South-east Asia’s shipping industry. 

“This maiden sustainability-linked Islamic transaction offers a fixed ceiling rate to provide an element of certainty to AET in this volatile environment, and there is no compounding of charges in the event of late payments,” said Gregory Seow, head of global banking at Maybank Singapore.

Maybank Singapore said that the loan will support AET’s strategic initiatives to reduce its fleet’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 40 per cent by 2030 from a 2008 baseline – and in the longer term, help to achieve the company’s net-zero GHG emissions target for 2050.

The facility may be further used to fund AET’s low-carbon initiatives and decarbonisation efforts as the company looks to develop zero-emission vessels and invest in new assets and businesses supporting the energy transition.

“This is also a great example of collaboration between the financing and shipping sectors to reduce the carbon footprint in the shipping industry,” added the lender.

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Maybank Singapore was the sole financier of the deal, with Maybank Investment Bank acting as the sustainability structuring adviser.

The transaction contributes to Maybank Group’s aim to provide RM80 billion (S$23 billion) in sustainable financing by 2025. The group noted that it has achieved close to RM53 billion worth of such transactions between January 2021 and the third quarter of 2023.