Union Railway, the company behind the $11bn federal rail scheme in the UAE, has asked banks to submit bids to act as financial advisers on the development of the project.

Potential advisers have been asked to table their bids by 4 August. The mandate is a short-term contract, which will cover some preliminary work on structuring the project to appeal to private sector financiers and developing a funding strategy for the project.

The work is expected to take around three months to complete and there is no deal execution involved

Source close the scheme

It will not necessarily involve raising financing for the project, but the scope of the work could be extended.

One source close to the process says, “The work is expected to take around three months to complete and there is no deal execution involved, but there is obviously the potential to work on the project all the way to completion so it has attracted quite a bit of interest.”

An award should be made by early September, according to another banker close to the project.

Banks that are expected to submit bids for the work on the rail scheme include the UK’s HSBC, and France’s BNP Paribas, National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), Germany’s Deutsche Bank and the US’ Citigroup.

Union Railway is currently in the process of seeking contractors for the first phase of the national rail project.