Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP represented the senior lenders, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) as mandated lead arranger, on the $693 million financing for the development of a world-scale methanol plant and an associated di-methyl ether (DME) production facility at Union Industrial Estate, La Brea, in Trinidad and Tobago. Total project costs are estimated at $1 billion.

The Milbank team led by Tokyo based Global Project Finance partner Aled Davies, advised the senior lenders with support from Milbank teams in New York and Los Angeles.

Japan-based Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Trinidad and Tobago-based Massy Holdings Limited established the project company, Caribbean Gas Chemical Limited. The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, through National Gas Company, is a shareholder in the project. The project facilities will be constructed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan.

The project is considered to be of national importance to Trinidad and Tobago which is seeking to further develop national resources and encourage the conversion of natural gas to higher value products. Additionally, the project is expected to play a strategic role in the development and promotion of DME, considered a cleaner fuel, as a substitute for LPG and diesel thus reducing consumption of petroleum products by indirect substitution with locally produced natural gas.

Milbank’s Aled Davies commented, “this has been an interesting and challenging project to bring to signing, as all groundbreaking projects are; there were a number of key commercial issues to address and it was also a challenge to achieve a balance among the mix of private and public stakeholder interests. However, it is incredibly gratifying for us to assist the parties in bringing to fruition a project of such strategic importance and which is expected to provide meaningful benefits to Trinidad & Tobago.”

In addition to Aled Davies, the Milbank team representing the senior lenders included New York based Global Project Finance partner Daniel Michalchuk, Tokyo based associates Gilly Hutchinson, Daniel Lin, Kathleen Chun and Anthony Scott, New York based associate Greg Slovick, Singapore based associate Cristy Cross and Los Angeles based Of Counsel Michael Dayen.