NIB and Tallink Silja Oy agree COVID Response loan to support operations
NIB and the shipping company Tallink Silja Oy, subsidiary of the Estonian AS Tallink Grupp, have agreed a four-year loan of EUR 100 million to support the company in mitigating the business impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tallink says in a press release.
Tallink Grupp is a strategic provider of maritime transport services in the northern Baltic Sea region. In 2019, the company served nearly 10 million passengers and transported 380,000 cargo units on routes between Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden.
The travel restrictions and border closures that have been imposed in light of the coronavirus outbreak had severe negative effects on Tallink’s activities during 2020. As a result, the company’s passenger numbers and revenues have reduced significantly. The loan aims to strengthen the company’s liquidity position in these deteriorated market conditions.
“Tallink Grupp is a major employer in the region and plays a significant role in labour mobility and freight shipping. The loan from NIB classifies as a Response loan for mitigating the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on infrastructure companies, and will support Tallink in continuing its operations during and after these difficult times”, says Henrik Normann, NIB President & CEO.
Finland has provided a state guarantee of up to EUR 90 million for the loan to safeguard the security of supply and maintain critically important freight traffic.
“The loan agreement with NIB provides additional confidence and assurance for our company in case the pandemic situation next year still doesn’t allow us to restore our operations to the extent that we are planning to restore them today; and we need additional financial resources to secure our liquidity in addition to the KredEx loan that we have already secured from the Estonian Government this year. We are very grateful to the Finnish Government for their support in reaching the agreement and to the NIB team with whose help we have signed this important loan”, says Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp.
Tallink Silja Oy, subsidiary of Tallink Grupp, is a shipping company that operates cruise ferries and roll on/roll off passenger ferries between Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Latvia. Tallink Grupp is one of the largest companies in Estonia, employing about 5,000 people in the Baltic Sea region and cooperating with some 6,800 organisations, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises.
NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.
