(Adds comments from CEO)
Aug 3 (Reuters) - Hoegh LNG Holdings Ltd:
* Secures debt financing for FSRU delivery unit number 9
* Has received commitment letters for a $177 million debt financing for FSRU 9, which is scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2018
* Facility comprises a 12-year tranche of $132 million guaranteed by K-SURE (South Korean export credit agency) and a five-year non-amortising commercial bank tranche of $45 million
* Facility is available to fund 65 pct of delivered cost of fsru based on a 16-year blended amortization profile
* Hoegh Lng intends to fix interest rate and based on current swap rate, fixed interest rate is expected to be around 5 pct
* "We are very satisfied with the terms and the South Korean export credit market is a very good solutions for us," CEO Sveinung Stoehle told Reuters
* "There are a lot of international banks in the facility, including ABM Amro, Citi, Bank of America and DNB," Stoehle said
* "We are working on several tenders and we are in a very good position to secure a contract (for FSRU 9)"
* "In addition we could use the unit in the LNG freight market, that is always a fall-back position", Stoehle said
* "Currently spot rates in the LNG freight market are at about $80.000 per day and we expect it to remain high in the next 2-3 years because a lot of LNG is going to be transported"
* "But we are in the FSRU business and our target is a long-term FSRU contract, nevertheless a short term deal in the LNG freight market before a longer term FSRU contract is likely"
* The most likely places to win a new FSRU contract is in the Middle East, Asia and South East Asia, Stoehle said Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Reporting by Ole Petter Skonnord, editing by Terje Solsvik)