Clifford Chance announces the financing of aluminum smelter project

Clifford Chance and Al Jadaan & Partners Law Firm have announced that the financiers on the financing of USD 5.01 billion aluminum smelter plant cast house and related infrastructure forming part of what will be the largest fully integrated aluminum complex in the world and will be located at Ras Az Zawr in Saudi Arabia.

The aluminum smelter which is to initially produce 740,000 tonnes per annum of primary aluminum is the first to be constructed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is being developed by Ma'aden Aluminum Company. MAC is JV between the Saudi Arabian Mining Company and Alcoa Inc.

The total amount of the multi-sourced financing for the project will be USD 3.256 billion and comprises an Islamic Ijara facility an Islamic Wakala facility, a commercial facility, a facility to be provided by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and a facility to be provided by the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.

Clifford Chance acting through its offices in Frankfurt, Dubai and Paris and Al Jadaan & Partners Law Firm acted for the financing group, comprising Islamic and commercial banks financial institutions led by a set of mandated lead arrangers which included Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation, Alinma Bank, Arab National Bank, Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation, Bank AlJazira, Banque Saudi Fransi, BNP Paribas, Emirates NBD, Export Development Canada, Riyad Bank, Samba Financial Group, Saudi Hollandi Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, The National Commercial Bank and The Saudi British Bank. Banque Saudi Fransi acted as documentation bank.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Edmund Boyo who was assisted by partners Qudeer Latif and Nicholas Wong. The core team comprised Mr Matthew Meyerink, Mr Paul McViety counsel of Dubai and Mr Debra Counsell of Counsel Paris. The wider team included: Mr Craig Dale, Mr Michael Gibling, Ms Anna Thwaites each based in Frankfurt; Mr Richard Parris, Mr Sandy Hall, Mr Katja Fenton, Mr Benjamin Goss, Mr Shauaib Mirza and Mr Cheuk Yin Cheung and Ms Corinne Duvnjak. The Al Jadaan team was led by Mr Mohammed Al Jadaan, Mr Abdulaziz Al Abduljabbar and Riyadh based Clifford Chance partner, Mr Mohamed Hamra Krouha with support from partner mr Khalid Al Abdulkareem and associates Mr Fahad Abuhimed, Mr Yasser Alhussain and Mr Nader Alharbi.

The sponsors, through Maaden Rolling Company will also develop a USD 2.52 billion aluminum rolling mill project that will be located adjacent to the smelter. The rolling mill will be the first to be constructed in the GCC. The same teams from Clifford Chance and Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm advised on that financing in parallel with the financing of the aluminum smelter project.