KfW IPEX-Bank finances cruise liner built at Meyer Werft shipyard / Reliable financing for long-standing German-American partnership

Frankfurt am Main (ots) - KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH has once more entered
into a financing agreement of a cruise liner, which is built at Meyer
Werft shipyard in Papenburg for the US cruise company Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd. (RCL). The agreement was signed last Friday.

It is the fourth of the Solstice series of five vessels, which RCL
ordered from the Meyer Werft shipyard in 2007, for which KfW
IPEX-Bank converted a financing commitment given at the time the
order was placed into a loan agreement. An important signal of KfW
IPEX Bank's reliability for the German shipbuilding industry and for
the established international relationship between Germany's Meyer
Werft and the US cruise company RCL.

KfW IPEX-Bank is also financing the sister ships being built at
Meyer Werft shipyard for its long-standing customer RCL. The first
vessel of the series, Celebrity Solstice, was launched in Papenburg
in October 2008. The currently financed Solstice vessel no. 4 has a
length of 315 metres, accommodates more than 2800 guests and is to be
delivered in 2011.

The financing for the fourth Solstice vessel amounts to EUR 444
million. It is covered by a Hermes guarantee and, additionally, tied
into the CIRR (Commercial Interest Reference Rate), in which the risk
of interest rate fluctuations is covered by the German State. The
tenor of the loan is 12 years. The Solstice series is built with
particularly eco-friendly features. Thanks to energy-efficient
components such as a photovoltaic system, optimised hydrodynamics and
an extremely effective underwater coating the vessels achieve energy
savings of around 30% over comparable ships.

The ships were ordered by the RCL group in Miami, the world's
second-largest cruise company. It holds a market share of around 25%.

The Meyer Werft shipyard is a family-owned enterprise in the sixth
generation, building ships for over 213 years. The shipyard builds
cruise liners for customers from all over the world, and is the most
important employer of the Papenburg region.

About KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH

Within KfW Bankengruppe KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH provides project and
corporate financing as well as trade and export financing
domestically and abroad. Worldwide it conducts all market activities
of KfW Bankengruppe that are carried out on commercial terms. KfW
IPEX-Bank GmbH has been operating as a legally independent subsidiary
since 1 January 2008 and contributes significantly to the promotional
mission of KfW Bankengruppe. It has approx. 490 employees (as of
January 2009) and is represented in the key economic and financial
centres throughout the globe.

Originaltext: KfW-IPEX-Bank
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Pressekontakt:
KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, Palmengartenstraße 5-9, 60325 Frankfurt
Pressestelle: E-Mail: dela.strumpf@kfw.de
Tel. 069 7431-2984, Fax: 069 7431-9409, E-Mail:
info@kfw-ipex-bank.de, Internet: www.kfw-ipex-bank.de