13 December, 2016
Shearman & Sterling advised the lenders in connection with the development and financing of the 2,400MW Hassyan coal-fired Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Dubai. The lenders comprised a combination of financial institutions from the PRC and local and regional commercial banks. The financing included a mezzanine tranche. Prior to this the firm advised the lenders on the Shuaa Energy transaction in 2015, which was the first IPP in Dubai.
ACWA Power and the Harbin Electric consortium were initially selected by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) as the preferred bidder to construct the plant which is scheduled to be fully operational by 2023. They were later joined as shareholders by Silk Road Fund. The project includes a 25-year power purchase agreement with DEWA, who will also own 51% of the project company, while ACWA Power, Harbin International and Silk Road Fund will own the remaining 49%.
The plant, adopting the use of the ultra-supercritical technology, will be the first coal-fired power plant in the GCC region and is fully-compliant with set international standards. This technology is designed to minimize fuel consumption, flue gas emissions and adhere to the most stringent environmental impact mitigation standards ever adopted for a coal fired power plant.
The Shearman & Sterling team included partners Ben Shorten (Singapore-Project Development & Finance), Sean Wang (Beijing/Hong Kong-Project Development & Finance), Sanja Udovicic (London-Project Development & Finance), Patrick Clancy (London-Finance), Simon Letherman (London-Tax) and Alexander Uff (London-International Arbitration); counsel Anna Chung (Singapore-Project Development & Finance) and Crystal Chen (Hong Kong-Project Development & Finance); and associates Nick Sinclair, Lachlan Clancy, Chad Passlow, Matthew Mullarkey (all Singapore-Project Development & Finance), Thomas Evans, Sara Couling, Elizabeth Stroud (all London-Finance), Andre Teixeira, Claire Hunter (both London-Project Development & Finance), Sarah Moir-Porteous (London-Tax), Arman Lie and Marshall Chu (both Hong Kong-Capital Markets) and Claude Jiang (Shanghai-Project Development & Finance).
