Belgium's Suez Energy has arranged $800 million worth of loans from international and regional banks for two Omani power projects. The loans were 30 per cent oversubscribed.

The funds will be used for the development of the Barka 2 power plant and the acquisition of the Al-Rusail plant.

Suez, in consortium with Mubadala Development Company, part-owned by the Abu Dhabi government, and National Trading Company, acquired the Al-Rusail plant on 31 January. This followed an agreement in 2006 between the consortium and the government of Oman to build a new power plant and acquire the Al-Rusail plant.

The debt/equity split on the loans is 88/12 per cent. The Al-Rusail loan has a tenor of 15 years and Barka 2 of 17 years. In addition, there is an equity bridge loan of three and a half years. Senior debt margins range from 70 basis points (bp) to 75 bp.

A Suez Energy spokesperson says: ?There was a lot of appetite from the bank market and the financing was arranged within 70 days of signing the project documents.?

HSBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation led the syndicate, which also involved KBC Bank, Calyon, Natexis, BNP Paribas, Mashreq Bank, Arab Bank, Gulf International Bank, Bank Muscat, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, KfW-Ipex Bank, BayernLB, WestLB, Standard Chartered Bank and Mizuho. Each bank lent about $50 million.