ENOC subsidiary's Financing wins Euromoney's 'Asia Oil and Gas Deal of the Year 2005' Award

This is the second award achieved by this unique financing arrangement. Earlier the deal was awarded the 'Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Deal of the Year 2005' from the prestigious Project Finance International magazine published by the Thomson Group. The award was received by Yusr Sultan, Chief Executive, Horizon Terminals Limited (HTL) on behalf of the project sponsors at a grand award ceremony organised by Euromoney in Hong Kong.

Speaking at the ceremony, Sultan said:

"The award reflects the excellent teamwork put in by HSBC and ENOC in developing an innovative financing structure for the project. In line with its expansion strategy, HTL has identified the Far East as one of the future areas of growth. The Singapore project will be HTL's platform for future growth into China and other countries in the Far East."

HSTPL, a joint venture established by HTL (a wholly owned subsidiary of ENOC), Independent Petroleum Group, Kuwait, SK Energy Asia Pte Ltd, (wholly owned by SK Corp), Martank BV (wholly owned by Vitol Holding BV) and Boreh International FZE is constructing a SGD 343 million (USD 207 million) terminal at Singapore's Banyan Basin, Jurong Island.

Hussain Sultan, Group Chief Executive and Board Member, ENOC and HSTPL Chairman said: "We are very pleased with the way this transaction was handled and see the oversubscription on the syndication and participation of all invitee banks as evidence of the strong confidence the international banking market has in this project and the sponsors. We see Singapore and the rest of South Asia as an area of strategic importance and are proud to have embarked on this project along with our partners," concluded Sultan."

The SGD 240 million (USD 145 million) loan for HSTPL was provided by a consortium of 12 banks led by HSBC Singapore, the mandated sole lead arranger, underwriter and book runner. ENOC Group Finance coordinated the financing on behalf of HSTPL and the shareholders. The syndication managed by HSBC achieved a rare 100 per cent participation rate and an oversubscription of three times reflecting the industry's good perception of the project, shareholders and most of all ENOC, as the financing was well structured with ENOC in all facets of the whole deal.

The financing won the award for its unique structuring which allowed rare limited recourse project financing with close to corporate style pricing in an Aaa/AAA country such as Singapore. The financing structure incorporated flexibility in shareholder changes and the financial closure of the project was achieved within a very short time frame after syndication invites were sent out to the banks. For a deal encompassing limited recourse financing, the level of response and time span is unusually short.

Horizon Terminal Limited (HTL) is an existing terminal operator in the Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia and Djibouti) and aims to build up a significant regional presence in the terminalling industry within 3-5 years and a global presence within 5-7 years.