MEED hosts 11th annual Project Finance Conference

Now in its eleventh year, Middle East Project Finance is one of the longest running and most successful of MEED Events' and has played a seminal role in defining the world's most dynamic project finance market. It is the most significant annual event for all those involved with developing, building and financing major projects in the Gulf region.

This year's event comes at a critical time for the region's project finance industry as the effects of the global credit crisis are now being felt across the region's economy. As a result, alternative sources of funding are increasingly being looked at and utilised for the region's many projects.

Edmund O'Sullivan, Chairman MEED Events said:

"Although there exists an abundance of natural resources in the region, as has been seen in recent weeks, the GCC economy is not totally insulated from the current global credit crisis."

Despite the liquidity squeeze, however, the countries of the Middle East remain among the most active customers for structured finance. At MEED we have estimated that the value of project finance deals that will have been signed by the end of 2008 will be close to US$36 billion."

Sponsored by Burooj Porperties and Norton Rose, Middle East Project Finance 2009 will once again provide an unmatched opportunity to benefit from face to face networking with the key players of the Project Finance industry.

Attendees at Middle East Project Finance 2009 include the region's major project lenders, borrowers, sponsors and developers as well as the region's leading project finance stakeholders and company executives who will be exploring the opportunities and challenges that currently face the project finance industry.

Topics to be discussed include the latest trends and demands within the industry as well as issues for the real estate, power, water and utilities, transport - aviation and ports, tourism and banking and finance sectors.

Middle East Project Finance 2009 will include presentations and panel sessions on the current trends and demands within the project finance industry and its various sectors, including oil and gas, regulation, heavy industry, petrochemical, real estate, education and healthcare.

Confirmed speakers include such people as Christophe Mariot, Regional Head of PF, BNP PARIBAS, Jimmy Chung, Chief Financial Officer, Qatar Electricity & Water Company (QEWC) and Derek Rozycki, Executive Director, Project & Corporate Finance, Mubadala, QP and HSBC.

Derek Rozycki said, "These are certainly difficult times for the project finance industry in light of the current credit squeeze, however, with about US$100 billion in power and water projects alone due to be completed across the region in the next 10 years which will require long-term private finance, exciting initiatives such as Islamic project financing are coming to the fore."

The Middle East Project Finance 2009 programme includes two pre-conference master classes on January 25th. Mansoor Durraini, Head of Project Finance, NCB will be discussing Islamic project financing and Jonathan Brufal, Partner, Norton Rose, will be highlighting project risk assessment and regional best practice in more detail.

MEED is widely recognised as providing leading business intelligence on projects finance across the MENA region through both the magazine and MEED insight reports, the most recent of which 'A Short, Sharp Shock' was published this month.

O'Sullivan concluded, "There are still a large amount of deals being done in the MENA region and Middle East Project Finance 2009 is the ideal place to be to meet the people who matter in the project finance industry."