Hong Kong/Singapore/Perth: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised TSX-V-listed Asian Mineral Resources Limited on its mining services contracts, equipment leasing arrangements and US$20 million project financing through LienViet Post Bank for the Ban Phuc Nickel Project in Vietnam.

Production at the mine, some 160km west of Hanoi, began in June. The project is the first underground nickel mine in Vietnam.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised CfC Stanbic Bank and other lenders on the project financing of the US$200 million Kwale sugar plantation, refinery and power plant in Kenya, which reached financial close last month.

Clifford Chance advised KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH and SEB AG on the financing of the Skogberget wind farm project in northern Sweden.

Latham & Watkins advised the Joint Lead Managers, BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered Bank, the Co-Manager, Mizuho Securities, and Bond Trustee, Citibank, on Ruwais Power Company’s issuance of US$825 million Senior Secured 6.0% Bonds due 2036. The issuance closed on 6 August 2013 and was very well-received by investors.

Transaction marks the first project bond offering in the Middle East independent power sector.

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised Ruwais Power Company PJSC and its sponsors - shareholders Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC, Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority, International Power S.A., Marubeni Corporation and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd - on the inaugural issuance of US$825,000,000 6 percent Senior Secured Bonds due 2036 and the related refinancing of the US$2.3 billion Shuweihat 2 IWPP.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised the financiers on the A$189 million project financing of the 106.8 MW Taralga wind farm, located 45 km north of Goulburn, New South Wales.

The project, a joint venture between Spain’s Banco Santander (Santander) and renewable energy group CBD Energy (the sponsors), represents Santander’s first step into the Australian renewable energy market.

AGL has achieved financial close on its Nyngan and Broken Hill solar PV power stations. Herbert Smith Freehills advised AGL on the projects, working closely with AGL to assist it achieve this significant milestone.

The power stations will have a combined capacity of approximately 155 MW and cost around $450 million. The Nyngan power station (102 MW approx.) will be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, incorporating some 1,350,000 solar PV panels.

Allen & Overy said today that the EUR1.4 billion project bond to finance the Castor underground gas storage facility in Spain underlined the market innovation designed to meet Europe's EUR2 trillion need for new infrastructure by 2020.

The Castor underground gas storage facility is jointly owned by Spanish construction company ACS and Canadian oil and gas company Dundee Energy. The facility will provide a 1.9 bcm strategic reserve (1.3 bcm of useful gas) for the Spanish gas system, representing a 30% increase in Spain’s current underground gas storage capacity.

Watson, Farley & Williams (“WFW”), a leading international law firm, is pleased to announce that it has advised the lenders on the financing of a 738-passenger luxury cruise ship, which is under construction at Fincantieri shipyard in Italy.

WFW advised Crédit Agricole CIB and the group of Joint Mandated Lead Arrangers and Lenders they put together, Société Générale, HSBC and KfW IPEX on the financing, which was completed on July 31, 2013. The financing also benefits from support by the Italian export credit agency SACE S.pA.