The Maritime Finance team of Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) Madrid has successfully advised Spanish public shipyard Navantia, S.A. in the financing, through a complex tax and financial structure, of two Suezmax vessels for Ondimar Transportes Marítimos, a shipowner integrated into the Ibaizábal group.
DLA Piper has advised Maamba Collieries Limited, the largest coal mining company in Zambia (owned as to 65% by the Nava Bharat Group based in Hyderabad, India, and as to 35% by ZCCM Investment Holdings an investment fund owned in part the Zambian Government) on the structuring, documenting and project financing of phase 1 (300 MW) of a 600 MW coal-fired power station with connected coal mine in Zambia.
Clifford Chance has advised the lenders on the US$825 million financing of the construction and operation of a coal fired power plant and an adjacent coal mine owned by Maamba Collieries Limited, located in Maamba, Zambia. The lenders were Barclays Africa (formerly ABSA Bank), Standard Chartered Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Bank of China Limited, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited and Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised UniCredit on the approximately €39 million refinancing of seven Solar Investment Group BV (“SIG BV”) owned special purpose vehicles (SPVs), collectively holding a photovoltaic portfolio in Italy of about 16.5 MW.
White & Case has advised European Investment Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Bank Leumi and Bank Hapoalim in the project financing of the $1 billion Negev Energy thermal solar power project.
Located in the Negev desert in Israel, the project will have a capacity of 121MW and is expected to be operational by the first half of 2018.
The financing consisted of approximately US$800 million equivalent of term loans in three currencies, a short-term interest rate hedging facility, and cost overrun and working capital facilities.
Shearman & Sterling has advised Bank Muscat S.A.O.G. on the development and financing of the Musandam Independent Power Plant Project (IPP)—a dual fuel fired power plant in the Musandam Governorate of Oman. The IPP is being developed by Musandam Power Company, a new entity established by a consortium led by Oman Oil Company (OOC) and South Korea’s LG International Corporation.
Norton Rose Fulbright has advised OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad and a syndicate of lenders on the US$755 million limited recourse project financing of the “Armada Kraken” floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) for Bumi Armada Berhad, which will be located at the Kraken oil field in the UK Sector of the North Sea.
Shoosmiths has advised the management team of branded footwear supplier, Jacobson Group on a £14m funding package from Shawbrook Business Credit.
Jacobson's, with a history of more than 80 years in the footwear industry owns an impressive portfolio of brands which cater for a broad cross section of market sectors including Ravel, Dolcis, Gola and Frank Wright.
The deal, led by corporate partner Graham Hall, will enable the company to further expand their international distribution network and continue to grow their online presence.
A consortium of Kenyan and international banks, advised by Allen & Overy, has arranged a long-term facility of USD350 million for Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC). This represents 70% financing of a new 450km multi-product fuel pipeline from Mombasa to Nairobi and replaces the existing 35-year-old fuel pipeline.
Roschier advised Metsä Fibre Oy, part of Metsä Group, in the EUR 1.2 billion financing of its new bioproduct mill in Äänekoski, Finland. The financiers included inter alia commercial banks, European Investment Bank and ECAs such as Finnvera and the Swedish export credit agency EKN.
The new mill, scheduled to be completed in 2017, is the largest investment ever in the forest industry sector in Finland.