July 27, 2010
For a PDF of the full press release
EMAL, a 50/50 joint-venture between Aluminium Company (DUBAL) and Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala), has reached financial close on US$736 million of direct loans and guarantees from a consortium of Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), which included the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), Euler-Hermes Kreditversicherungs-AG (Hermes) of Germany and the Compagnie Francaise D’Assurance Pour Le Commerce Exterieur (COFACE) of France. Taylor-DeJongh served as financial advisor to Ex-Im Bank and COFACE.
Taylor-DeJongh was selected to advise Ex-Im Bank and COFACE in April 2009 and acted as financial advisor throughout the financing process. Taylor-DeJongh Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Terry Newendorp, said: “Taylor-DeJongh was very pleased to act as Financial Advisor to Ex-Im Bank and COFACE on this very challenging transaction. This is another highlight in our 17-year history of advising these agencies on complex project financing deals.”
The proceeds of the ECA direct and guaranteed loans are to be used to complete the first phase of the EMAL project, which involves the construction of an aluminium smelter in the Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone in Taweelah, Abu Dhabi, UAE with a nominal capacity of over 750,000 tons per annum of aluminium, as well as related infrastructure including a combined cycle 2,000MW power plant dedicated to the smelter. The ECA financing facilities complement the initial financing from term lenders that reached financial close in December 2007. In the project’s second phase, EMAL plans to double the capacity of the smelter to 1.5 million tons per annum making the facility the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world.