Bank of the Year – SMBC
SMBC had an impressive year across the globe with leading-edge bank and advisory deals across the Americas and EMEA regions. Asia-Paciific had a quieter year for all banks but SMBC still managed to top the loan tables in that region.
The bank stood out as an early mover in the data centre sector which paid off in 2024 with a range of impressive deals. It was the sole structuring bank on the IPI Partners' US$2.9bn financing in the US backing four linked data centre campuses with closings on each deal occurring through July. All four multi-building data centre projects were leased to a single highly rated, top tier hyperscale cloud provider.
The US$824m Avondale deal financed three greenfield hyperscale data centres near Phoenix, Arizona. The US$618m Avanti deal financed two data centres in Manassas, Virginia. The US$654m Lithia Springs deal financed two three-storey data centres near Atlanta, Georgia. The US$824m YFT deal financed three two-storey data centres in Bristow, Virginia.
In the US it was sole structuring agent on a US$565m five-year 150bp deal for a new data centre for a leading developer and a high investment-grade customer in Dallas-Fort Worth. In the UK, it led the first European data centre ABS deal: Vantage Data Centres UK 2024-1, a £600m, 230bp offering of fixed-rate senior green-labelled notes. The deal is backed by two data centres near Cardiff and associated leases, with 90% of the rent due from investment-grade or equivalent tenants. In the Gulf, it was sole underwriter on one of the first data centre deals in the region, the US$250m Pure Data Centres deal for a 45MW facility on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island. The financing includes a US$200m uncommitted accordion. Pure Data Centres is owned by Oaktree Capital Management.
In the Gulf, SMBC was financial adviser on the biggest deal of the year, the US$12.3bn Amiral petrochemical project expansion for Aramco and TotalEnergies. The deal took time to emerge as it involves adding a suite of products to the sponsors' existing Satorp refinery scheme. Part of the advisory involved aligning the banks and investors on both projects. The Amiral scheme has nine EPC packages. The project financing totalled US$6.9bn combined from three export credit agencies, SIDF and more than 30 local, regional and international banks. In addition, the bank advised the Amiral sponsors on the procurement of the associated US$870m cogeneration project won by a Taqa and JERA team. The scheme required US$720m of long-term project debt. SMBC also advised the procurer, Saudi Power Procurement Company, on two major wind deals in the country won by Marubeni.
The bank was adviser on one of the more interesting deals of the year, the US$1bn Brightline West bond for the Fortress Investment Group high speed rail project between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The US$8.5bn scheme is being funded via federal grants, taxable and tax-exempt debt and preferred equity. In addition, it was the financial adviser and underwriter on the Brightline Trains Florida refinancing where a US$2.2bn bond was raised to refinance US$3.7bn of debt.
And it advised on the US$540m Autopistas del Nordeste project refinancing backing the road between the southwest and the centre of the country with the ports of Cartagena and Barranquilla. The US dollar financing was split between a bank loan and a US private placement and the peso financing was structured in three tranches with different tenors indexed to the local UVR rate giving them natural inflation coverage.
The bank led one of the more complex deals this year for Fiemex Energia in Mexico. The state-backed entity bought Iberdrola's 13 generation plants in the country with an installed capacity of 8.539MW. About 99% of the plants are gas-fired combined-cycle power stations, with 87% operating under the independent power producer regime, contracted with the Comision Federal de Electricidad. The US$1.49bn 16.4-year 144A/Reg S bond priced at 7.25%.
SMBC has more than 470 project finance professionals with the largest office in New York with 150, Tokyo, 100 and London, 90. Yoshihiro Takami is the head in Tokyo, Luca Tonello in Singapore, Juan Kreutz and Luis Perdigon in New York and Layth Irani and Takehisa Manabe in London.
Debt House of the Year – MUFG
MUFG stood out in 2024 as the Global Debt House of the Year, leading bond and asset-backed transactions across geographies and sectors while pushing the boundaries of what it means to involve private credit in the project finance world. The pool of capital available for project finance is growing rapidly and MUFG has positioned itself to offer a broad range of products to make the most of that across debt capital markets offerings.
MUFG helped to raise US$4.05bn from 25 project bond issues through the first nine months of 2024, making it the most active bank globally in terms of issuance. The bank led deals in Australia, India, Canada, Sweden, the UK and Switzerland, among others. It worked with the biggest companies and sponsors in the world, with groups facing major hurdles and with longtime repeat customers to lead some of the marquee bond deals done in the market in 2024.
MUFG was a key player in XPFibre’s €5.8bn refinancing of its debt in one of the largest multi-sourced transactions in the European digital infrastructure space ever. The bank was one of the two active global placement agents for the US private placement of notes, with the first issuance in a series closed with the placement of €1.159bn across the 2034, 2037, and 2040 maturities.
The bank’s roughly 100 practitioners in the US are part of its strategy of placing deals in the market and delivering opportunities to that capital. It allowed them throughout the year to bring major transactions to an increasingly hungry and active debt-providing community, which allows for a rather seamless flow of capital from one end of the planet to the other.
In another example, MUFG helped Woodside and Global Infrastructure Partners raise US$1.39bn via a 4(a)(2) US private placement for the Pluto LNG Train 2 in Australia. As one of five bookrunning agents, MUFG brought in 10 of the 26 investors who participated in the transaction, representing nearly a third of the total deal and allowing for attractive pricing and long maturity. MUFG was able to help pre-market the deal both virtually and at the US private placement conference in February.
In other notable deals, it helped Venture Global LNG close on a US$1.5bn deal, this time a 144A senior secured bond due 2030 that priced at 7%. The bank aided EdgeConneX in selling a US$150m asset-backed green bond issue priced at a margin of 235bp with a coupon of 6% to help the data centre company’s growth.
It led NextDecade's Rio Grande LNG in issuing US$1.115bn of senior secured notes in a private placement at a fixed rate of 6.58%. And in a massive deal, MUFG was a main bank on Energy Transfer’s sale of US$3.9bn in bonds, with proceeds to support its acquisition of WTG Midstream in the US and refinance debt.
MUFG was steadfast for its bond clients. New Fortress Energy and Adani had tough years, but the bank helped them transact throughout as they both sought to steady their balance sheets. It also transacted again for long-term relationship sponsors like Cheniere Energy.
MUFG's forward-thinking strategy to increase private capital’s access to infrastructure investments came through in 2024. MUFG partnered with asset management firm DWS Group to underwrite and distribute infrastructure and alternative credit investments with a target of US$1bn of infrastructure and project finance transaction volume per year.
The DWS US infrastructure debt platform manages US$4.7bn of committed capital across funds and CLOs and has made more than 275 investments across infrastructure sub-sectors since 2014. MUFG is agent for more than 300 credit facilities for infrastructure assets in the power, energy, digital, and transportation sectors.
The alliance highlights MUFG's commitment to delivering tailored capital and advice for energy transition and the expanding digital infrastructure sector, according to Erik Codrington, head of project finance for the Americas for MUFG. The bank aims to strengthen its ability to deliver impactful financing and distribution outcomes for its global project finance and infrastructure clients, according to Art de Pena, head of international private side distribution at MUFG.
The Japanese group was also responsible for some of the more novel deals in the market, bookrunning for Hong Kong Mortgage Corp in its sale of a second infrastructure loan-backed securities deal, with the goal of developing the structured finance market in Hong Kong. The deal followed on from the first of its kind priced in 2023, but MUFG was able to show how quickly it can help an asset class mature with more attractive pricing already achieved in 2024.
In July 2024, MUFG showed its commitment to sustainability by establishing a Sustainability Finance Framework guided by various global green and social bond standards that has an impact on its renewable energy project finance and other operations.
The bank has a regionalised structure with no overall global project finance head. In the Americas, the team is led by Erik Codrington, in Asia by Shivanan Sivarajah with Rob Ward head in Australia, in Tokyo by Tetsuo Kagaya and in EMEA, Phillip Hall. Former project finance heads in New York and London keep an eye on things as Americas and EMEA heads of global corporate and investment banking respectively, Jon Lindenberg and Phil Roberts.
Financial Adviser of the Year – Societe Generale
Financial advisory has always been a tricky business model to crack. Spend too long on one assignment and no fees. Come too late to the game and what value does an institution add? Rothschild is one house that will advise on deals ready to go to the financing market. Good work if you can get it. Societe Generale, however, has been advising on this year's Global Deal of the Year – Northern Endurance Partnership/Net Zero Teesside CCS – all this decade.
It must have been quite a journey. Taking the world's first carbon capture and storage scheme, plus a gas-fired power project which supplies CO2, through the initial contract design and negotiation stage all the way from the governmental and development process and onto the combined financial close for two projects involving £8bn of debt.
The business models and regulatory frameworks underpinning NZT and NEP had to be developed in parallel with the bank financing to ensure bankability of the finally agreed models. This necessitated a highly complex trilateral negotiation for two interdependent projects between the project sponsors and the UK Government.
There are two CCS projects in the UK: NEP and HyNet. Societe Generale has been playing an important role in HyNet. It is financial adviser on the £1bn Vertex scheme being developed by Essar Oil and Progressive Energy, which will send CO2 to HyNet. The first phase of the Vertex scheme will supply blue hydrogen to the Stanlow refinery, replacing the current grey hydrogen. It has already been launched to project banks.
The bank has been involved in a range of large-scale deals this year. In offshore wind it is the financial adviser on the Empire Wind deal in the US and the Baltica 2 deal in Poland.
It was the financial adviser on the Verkor gigafactory in France and secured a €1.4bn debt financing on the €2.1bn scheme in Dunkirk. Verkor is a French industrial company based in Grenoble backed by Macquarie Asset Management, Meridiam, Renault, EIT InnoEnergy, Schneider Electric, Capgemini, EQT Ventures, Demeter, Sibanye-Stillwater, ISALT and BPIFrance. It advised on an EV charging deal Electra to fund the deployment of a network of more than 120 charging stations in Belgium and Luxembourg.
It advised fibre-to-the-home provider Deutsche Glasfaser on a €1.25bn debt raise on top of the €5.75bn package agreed in 2021 to support DG on its longer-term plan to reach a nationwide footprint of up to 6m homes passed with FTTH.
In the US northeast it advised on the US$845m refinancing of the debt on Antin's FirstLight Fiber business-to-business network.
Following on from its H2GS green steel financing in Sweden last year, the bank advised and financed a private water treatment plant at the site supplied by KKR's John Laing.
It advised on the releveraging of debt on the Aegean Motorway Concession Company concession in Greece holding a 230km-long section of the A1. AMSA is owned by Hochtief, Aktor, Avax and Vinci.
Societe Generale advised on Nusantara Sembcorp Solar Energi, the joint venture between Sembcorp Utilities, 49% and PLN Nusantara Renewables, 51%, on the first renewable project in Nusantara, the new capital city of Indonesia – a large-scale integrated 50MW solar power plant and 14MWh battery energy storage system.
The Societe Generale team is headed by global head of energy Olivier Musset, global head of infrastructure Herve Le Corre and global head of mining, metals and industries Lenaig Trenaux.
Sponsor of the Year – Masdar
Masdar shows a business is not run on pitches and speeches, but through consistency, action and delivery. The Mubadala/Taqa/Adnoc Abu Dhabi-based green investment vehicle has secured over US$6bn new capital this year for renewables in nine different countries. This is more than sufficient to be selected as Sponsor of the Year.
It has closed over US$3.5bn in project finance debt agreements in as little as 12 months to back construction of seven new greenfield projects exceeding 5GW in six countries. It has also participated in a US$1bn dark green bond to finance equity contributions in its greenfield projects. And it was involved in nearly US$2bn corporate debt for acquisitions in Spain, Germany and Greece, including the largest renewables M&A deal ever closed on the Athens Stock Exchange.
Masdar’s business model is straightforward and it works globally: non-recourse project financing is used to cover approximately 70%–75% of capex and the proceeds of green bonds are used meet the remaining 25%–30% of capex representing Masdar’s equity investment.
This model has worked this year in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Spain and Germany.
Starting at home, Masdar closed a US$1.5bn dual-tranche syndicated conventional and Islamic Ijara facility for the 1.8GW DEWA 6 scheme, the sixth phase of the 5GW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park in Dubai. The debt was closed via Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Warba Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Standard Chartered and HSBC.
In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Masdar reached financial close with EDF on a 25-year US$1.1bn soft mini-perm for the US$1.5bn Amaala scheme via Saudi banks Alinma, SNB and Riyad and UAE banks FAB and Emirates NDB. The scheme includes a decarbonised off-grid renewable energy system with 250MW of solar power, 700MWh battery energy storage, transmission, distribution, desalination and wastewater treatment plants.
A Masdar/EDF/Nesma team closed financing on the 1.1GW Al-Henakiyah solar scheme in Saudi Arabia via a US$570m soft mini-perm from Bank of China, FAB, Saudi Awwal Bank, Saudi Investment Bank and Riyad Bank.
And a Masdar/Kepco/GD Power Development consortium signed the power purchase agreement with Saudi Power Procurement Company on the 2GW Sadawi solar scheme at US$0.0129263/kWh. The project is now ready to raise financing.
Masdar made headlines during COP29 in Baku as it secured US$480m project financing for the 760MW Banka and Bilasuvar solar project duo, which it is co-developing with Azerbaijan's national oil company Socar. The debt came from development financiers – the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Asian Development Bank.
In Uzbekistan, Masdar closed on US$159m of debt for the 250MW PV and 62MW/125MWh battery energy storage scheme in Bukhara. The debt included tranches from the IFC, ADB, JICA and FMO.
Masdar and Taaleri Energia signed a 15-year €144m project financing for the 154MW Cibuk 2 wind farm in Serbia via UniCredit and Erste Group. The deal was among a few renewable energy project financings in the Western Balkans to be fully backed by commercial debt with no involvement from development finance institutions and the second CfD deal to reach financial close in Serbia.
On top of its greenfield project finance deals, Masdar raised a €488m loan backing its purchase of a 49% stake in the 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm from Iberdrola via ABN AMRO, Credit Agricole, ING, financial adviser Santander and Siemens Bank.
Earlier in the year, BNP Paribas, Santander, Intesa Sanpaolo, ADCB, FAB and SMBC financed Masdar's €817m purchase of a 49.99% stake in a 2GW solar portfolio in Spain owned by Endesa that has the potential for 500MW of battery storage.
Last but not least, in December Masdar closed its purchase of 70% of Terna Energy's shares at €20 per share, backed by a €750m debt financing from Greek commercial bank Eurobank and the National Bank of Greece as lead arrangers. The transaction was the largest energy deal ever on the Athens Stock Exchange and one of the largest in European Union renewable history.
Masdar’s external financing strategy is overseen by its corporate finance and treasury practice, which includes a structured finance team, a treasury team and an insurance team. The practice is led by Bruce Johnson, who joined the company in 2020 from parent Mubadala and became director of Masdar corporate finance and treasury in July 2023. Masdar’s CEO is Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi.
The head of structured finance at the company is Ismail Chakour, who joined Masdar in August 2023 from SMBC, where he was for nearly six years as a director in the power, renewables and infrastructure project finance advisory team and before that was with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power for three years. Tariq Karmostaji has headed treasury since 2020 and has been with Masdar’s treasury team since 2014. The insurance department is run by Anup Chackunny, who has been Masdar’s insurance manager since 2016 and Mubadala’s from 2013 to 2016.
Law Firm of the Year – Milbank
The US has been a propulsor of IRA-boosted innovative power and infrastructure projects this year, with the rest of the world following course. On the legal front, no one seems to have grasped and embraced the spirit of the time more than Milbank.
The New York-headquartered firm has dominated global project finance advisory for lenders in its homeland as well as across the pond, from London to Asia.
Milbank alone has advised on 48 project finance deals globally out of 330 global transactions above US$500m individual value included in PFI’s legal report for 2024. That means Milbank has advised on 14.5% of global PF deals above US$500m, leaving the remaining 282 financings to 140 different law firms. The PFI legal report was published in November and gathered deal data from October 2023 to September 2024.
Milbank’s global project, energy and infrastructure finance group is chaired by Daniel Bartfeld and led by Daniel Michalchuk, both based in New York.
The Europe, Middle East and Africa branch is fully operated out of London and led by long-time partner John Dewar. The Asia practice splits its assignments between Singapore and Tokyo, with David Zemans acting as managing partner of the practice from Singapore.
The firm’s main hub in the Big Apple counts on a 101-strong project finance dedicated team including 11 partners and 90 lawyers. A West Coast project finance practice in Los Angeles focuses on renewables and tax equity deals with seven partners and 35 lawyers. A nascent Washington DC practice focusing on power regulation is emerging, led by partner Jenna McGrath and a handful of lawyers.
The London, Singapore and Tokyo teams are smaller but do extremely heavy lifting, especially the London team which counts three partners and 25 lawyers stretching their expertise all the way east to India and all the way down to South Africa.
The US market is the busiest and bulkiest considering the size of the country and the economy. The GCC and Egypt cluster take a close second spot next to the US, yet Milbank manages and seemingly prefers to keep advising Middle Eastern and North African clients via London, where there is a bigger pool of specialists, according to a London-based partner who spoke to PFI.
Data centres, offshore wind and net-zero industrials have taken the project finance innovation spotlight globally, with the US clearly presenting much larger deals than Europe – with some exceptions like the mega Stegra, formerly H2 Green Steel, deal in Sweden. The Middle East and Egypt have been focusing on billion dollar transactions in any field from petrochemicals to renewables. Natural resources transactions have still dominated the African market in 2024 and thermal energy has been making a steady comeback in Western economies and oil and gas are far from gone and still instrumental to the energy transition, a US-based partner said.
Proving him right is PFI's yearly legal review, which counts a whopping seven petrochemical deals in its top 10 largest deals of the year. All deals were closed in the US and the Gulf, with Milbank advising on the US$15.5bn Aramco gas pipelines acquisition project.
It is yet to see how dealmaking dynamics, structures and deal types will change globally – and whether they will shift at all – after US president-elect Donald Trump takes the baton from incumbent US president Joe Biden in January. One certain thing is that 2024 has been busier than 2023 for project finance and hopes are high that the curve will keep going up.
Deal of the Year – NEP/NZT
The Northern Endurance Partnership carbon capture and storage project and Net Zero Teesside 860MW gas fired power plant which will send CO2 to NEP are the first project financings of a carbon capture and storage system across the world and as such set a whole range of precedents for this industrial sector. With £8bn of debt raised for the two linked projects, they are massive deals in their own right.
CCS as a net-zero tool is being looked at across the globe from southeast US, Europe, the Gulf and into countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia in Asia-Pacific. Presumably a whole range of contractual and risk models are being considered.
In the UK, the CCS infrastructure element of the projects is being procured via the regulated asset base model used in the utility sector backed by an availability payment structure. Lenders are not exposed to CO2 volume risk. For the associated power project a dispatchable power agreement is being used which mixes an availability payment and a flexible payment taking into account the additional cost of generation compared to an unabated reference plant. As the CCS clusters in the UK take in more emitters which are not power linked, industrial carbon capture contracts will be signed.
NEP and NZT have set the precedents for funding CCS infrastructure and for funding CO2 emitter schemes. They have set precedents for the intercreditor issues between the CCS infrastructure and the emitters and for the government relationship with the schemes. Other developers will have other ways of doing things but NEP/NZT is a vital first step.
The deals have project risks with no completion guarantees but are backed by a government backstop, insurer of the last resort, to cover events such as leakage risk, long-term unavailability and lack of insurance. The government support is not a fixed package but has various elements.
The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero said in high-level terms the transport and storage companies "will benefit from a government support package provided by HMG to cover certain high impact, but low probability risks beyond those that are manageable by operation of the economic regulatory regime, which the investors and/or supply chain, including insurers, of T&SCos cannot take, or cannot price at an efficient level that is good value for money for UK taxpayers or consumers".
Twenty-two banks joined the NEP deal and 19 joined the NZT financing. The NEP banks are Societe Generale, Santander, ING, BNP Paribas, Natixis, SMBC, Mizuho, MUFG, Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays, BBVA, OCBC, Bank of China, ANZ, DNB, CIBC, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Credit Agricole, Bank of America and Helaba. The NZT bank list is the same apart from the last three, which are not in the NZT deal. Tenor is 20 years.
Societe Generale was the financial adviser. Herbert Smith Freehills advised the sponsor group and Linklaters advised the lenders. BP, Equinor and TotalEnergies sponsored the NEP with a ratio of 45:45:10 and BP and Equinor and sponsored NZT at a ratio of 75:25. The equity contributions to the project will be back-ended.
Power Deal of the Year – Taiba/Qassim
Saudi Power Procurement Company managed to procure 7.2GW of combined cycle gas fired capacity split between four 1.8GW schemes – Taiba 1 and 2 and Qassim 1 and 2 – in one of the largest power deals ever transacted.
Finding developers to build gas-fired projects has been challenging in the net-zero era. SPPC came up with a plan to bolt on carbon and capture and storage once the CCGTs become operational. The team will seek design solutions for the new CCS kit in 2032. When adopted, the cost of the CCS will then be paid by SPPC when operational as a pass-through.
The independent power project contracts have power tolling-style agreements from the start that will run for 25 years with the developers owning 100% of the project company. The process between the award and the power purchase agreement signing was implemented in a record time of 15 days.
The schemes are noteworthy for a range of reasons – not just their size. The kingdom needs power and these schemes will start to fill the gap.
The projects will use the latest generation of the H Class gas turbines capable of firing up to 50% green hydrogen. They will displace oil-based thermal capacity with the latest, most efficient gas technology and reduce the carbon intensity of the overall electricity system. They are the first gas-fired CCGT projects in Saudi Arabia since 2014.
The parties involved had to navigate a range of interfaces between the two sponsor groups involved plus SPPC, the lenders, the hedging banks, EPC contractors and the O&M contractors in a huge undertaking.
SPPC has an ambitious programme of new CCGTs. Taiba and Qassim were the pathfinders. Winners have already been selected for the next four – Rumah 1 and 2 and Nairyah 1 and 2. Cranmore Partners, Linklaters and Fichtner advised SPPC on the deals.
The ACWA Power/Saudi Electricity/HAACO team won the US$1.76bn Taiba 1 and US$1.74bn Qassim 1 scheme. The Al Jomiah/EDF/Buhur for Investment/Ajlan & Bros team won the US$1.93bn Taiba 2 and US$1.92bn Qassim 2 scheme.
The ACWA/SEC team raised US$2.6bn of senior debt via a commercial facility from Standard Chartered, Bank of China, Saudi National Bank, Riyad Bank and Saudi Investment Bank plus an Islamic tranche from Saudi Awwal Bank and Alinma Bank. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher was the sponsor counsel and DLA Piper was the lenders’ counsel. Sepco III and PowerChina are the EPC contractors.
The Al Jomiah/EDF/Buhur for Investment/Ajlan & Bros team had seven banks on its senior debt financing: Riyad, Al Jazira, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Saudi Investment Bank, Saudi Awwal Bank, Arab Energy Fund and Saudi Fransi. In addition, two banks joined the equity bridge loan: Commercial Bank of Dubai and FAB.
China Energy International Group is the EPC contractor and Siemens is supplying the turbines. The sponsors were supported by Korea Development Bank as financial adviser and Covington & Burling on legal matters. The lenders were supported by DLA Piper. Herbert Smith Freehills advised Al Jomaih and Clifford Chance advised Ajlan & Bros.
Infra Deal of the Year – Nakkas-Basaksehir
Closing more than €1bn worth of project finance debt for a road deal is no easy task, particularly in an emerging market such as Turkey.
In October, Ronesans and its South Korean partners signed a 15-year €1bn project finance package with international commercial lender and development financiers backing the €1.4bn 45km Nakkas-Basaksehir Motorway Project.
This is the only highway BOT project fully financed by foreign banks in Turkey and all debt was denominated in euros.
A total of €550m in debt was provided by development finance institutions and just short of €500m was lent by commercial banks and fully covered by export credit agencies. The commercial lenders included Deutsche Bank, Natixis and Standard Chartered. All commercial tranches are ECA-covered by Dutch insurer Atradius, Switzerland’s Serv and the IsDB’s ICIEC.
The DFI tranches included €240m from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, €150m from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, €120m from the Islamic Development Bank and €40m from the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector. The EBRD tranche is structured as an A/B loan with the B portion covering €45m from the Bank of China. No other B loan mechanisms have been employed.
Ronesans and Sonatrach signed the US$1.1bn project financing on the US$1.7bn Ceyhan polypropylene and propane dehydrogenation scheme in Turkey in late November. Spanish ECA Cesce covered the commercial debt tranche of up to US$600m with financial adviser ING, Arab Energy Fund, formerly Apicorp, BBVA, DenizBank and DZ providing the bank liquidity. The US Development Finance Corp provided a US$500m 15-year direct loan.
In October, Ronesans issued Turkey’s first sustainable bond on Euronext Dublin with a US$350m sustainable financing issuance, rated B+ by Fitch. Earlier in the year, Ronesans closed the 15-year US$165m project financing for its US$213m 189MW YEKA RES-3 wind farms in Turkey via HSBC and ING, guaranteed by Euler Hermes.
Ronesans also closed a €365m senior debt package from six development financiers for the €450m Kokshetau hospital public-private partnership, the first healthcare PPP in Kazakhstan.
On the Nakkas-Basaksehir deal, the sponsors were awarded a 20-year concession in 2020 by the General Directorate of Highways of Turkey. The project company is owned by Ronesans and a consortium of South Korean investors including Samsung C&T, Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation and KIAMCO PIS Infra Special Asset Investment Trust No 1, established by the South Korean government and managed by KDB Infrastructure Investments Asset Management.
The project will be built by Ronesans' REC Uluslararasi Insaat Yatirim Sanayi ve Ticaret under a lumpsum turn-key, fixed-price and date-certain agreement. The operations and maintenance will be run by Ronesans' RNS PPP Altyapi Ticaret, Samsung C&T and Korea Expressway Corporation, the project operator.
Despite South Korean partners in the project, no Korean export credit coverage is featured in the project financing because they entered the project during its later stages, by which time the financing structure had already been mostly shaped and agreed.
Outside of ECA coverage, additional derisking mechanisms have been put in place for the project, including a debt assumption agreement that was executed with the administration to secure senior loan and derivative risks.
The project benefits from a minimum revenue guarantee mechanism which is subject to indexation with euro CPI on a semi-annual basis. The minimum revenue guarantee of 150,000 daily passenger car units will be paid semi-annually. Further instruments benefiting the project include an initial toll base rate of €0.0678/km in real terms, excluding VAT and other taxes. Both MRG and the tolls are paid in lire and indexed for euro inflation.
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