SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gunvor Singapore, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss-based trading house Gunvor Group, launched a US$350 million (S$439.7 million) syndicated revolving credit facility (RCF) to finance new investments and existing operations in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Gunvor is in a strong position, having pursued a strategy to diversify how we finance our Asian activities with a number of dedicated borrowing bases in addition to our RCF," Jacques Erni, chief financial officer of Gunvor Group, said in a statement on Sunday.

Bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers of the facility include Arab Petroleum Investments Corp, DBS Bank, Maybank and ING Bank.

Gunvor Group's core earnings rose by a quarter in 2013. It expects results to improve again this year despite the brief turmoil it faced in March due to the threat of sanctions given its co-founder Gennady Timchemko's close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those concerns dissipated when that Timchemko sold his stake in the firm.