Shearman & Sterling has advised more than 20 lenders including the U.S. Government export credit agency (US Exim) on Bahrain’s Al Dur US$2.1 billion independent water and power production project. Financing documents for which were signed on June 29.
The 1,234MW project is the first Middle Eastern power project to use a complex form of financing structure, and involves a mix of commercial bank, export credit direct loans, export credit covered loans and Islamic financing instruments.
Lead partner, Ben Shorten said “The challenging global financial circumstances at the time the deal got to market meant we worked closely with the lenders and sponsors to create an innovative financial structure that addressed risk to the satisfaction of all the lenders”.
The lenders included: Al Rajhi, Arab Bank, Arab National Bank, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Banque Saudi Fransi, Bayern LB, Calyon, CIC, Dexia, Export Development Canada, Fortis, HSBC, Islamic Bank of Asia, KBC, KfW-Ipex, Mashreqbank, NAB, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank, WestLB and US Exim. Political and commercial risk cover for part of the financing was provided by Korea Export Insurance Corporation (KEIC).
Shearman & Sterling had separate teams advising the three different lender groups on the deal, acting under ethical wall arrangements. The London team advised the commercial and Islamic Banks, and acted as counsel on common lender issues. The New York team advised US Exim and the Singapore team advised KEIC.
The team was led by project finance partner, Ben Shorten in the firm’s London office. He was assisted by partners David Platt and Patrick Clancy, counsel Greg Page and Alex Bevan, associates Rowena van de Grampel, Anna Duncan, Simon Thomson, Elena Tzvetinova, Cem Celiker, John Delamere, Nadia Bardawil and Natasha Kirby. The team also included project finance partner, Greg Tan in New York assisted by Abigail Berry and Chris Setteducati and partner Sanja Udovicic in Singapore assisted by Anna Chung.
For more information, please contact Caroline Paul | London | T +44 20 7655 5068 |