Financial close was reached in mid-June on a trio of Gulf project finance transactions. Kuwait's olefins II, Saudi Arabia's Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (YanSab) and the Ras Abu Fontas (RAF) B2 power deal in Qatar were all signed off.

The olefins II financing consists of a $2,500 million conventional facility, with a tenor of 14 years and pricing ranging from 50-70 basis points (bp).

A 34-strong group of mandated lead arrangers (MLAs)

was appointed in April on the project, which is a joint venture between the local Petrochemical Industries Company and the US' Dow Chemical Company. Societe Generale is the financial adviser (MEED 21:4:06).

The $485.5 million RAF B2 debt was signed with a group of six MLAs, appointed in January. The tenor is 25 years, with pricing ranging from 55-150 bp. HSBC acted as financial adviser to the client, Qatar Electricity & Water Company (MEED 27:1:06).

YanSab signed commercial financing agreements worth $1,700 million with a group

of 19 MLAs on its 12-year borrowing. The margin is 45-65 bp. Export credit agency (ECA)

coverage of $700 million was provided by Italy's Sace and the UK's Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD). The Public Investment Fund contributed

SR 4,000 million ($1,067 million).

The final MLA group consisted of: ABN Amro, Arab Bank, Arab Banking Corporation, Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Banque Saudi Fransi,

BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Fortis Bank, Gulf International

Bank, HSBC, ING Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Mizuho Financial Group, National Commercial Bank, Samba Financial Group, Saudi Hollandi Bank (SHB), Sumitomo-Mitsui Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank. ABN and SHB were the financial advisers (MEED 26:5:06).