Abu Dhabi’s Shuweihat S3 power project is due to reach financial close by the end of April, and bankers are targeting the end of March to sign documents for the $1.3bn debt package.

The financing for the project is split between $370m Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) loan, $370m from Export-Import Bank of Korea through a direct loan and loan insurance, and a $360m commercial bank tranche.

The bank tranche will be provided by:

• HSBC (UK)
• National Bank of Abu Dhabi (UAE)
• Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (Japan)
• Sumitomo Bank (Japan)
• Samba (Saudi Arabia)

Pricing is understood to start at 175 basis points above the London interbank offered rate (Libor), rising to 250 basis points above Libor.

Shuweihat S3 will be a 1,600MW project and is due to come online in mid-2013.