Pinsent Masons advises on US$700 Million Madinah 3, Buraydah 2 and Tabuk 2 independent sewage treatment plants in Saudi Arabia

The Madinah 3, Buraydah 2 and Tabuk 2 projects involve the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of new wastewater treatment plants of 375,000m3 per day, 150,000m3 per day and 90,000m3 per day in Madinah, Buraydah and Tabuk respectively in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Pinsent Masons team advising the consortium was led by energy and infrastructure finance partners Gurmeet Kaur and David Platt advising the client on all aspects of the project documents, construction documents and conventional and Islamic financing. for the bid stage and then to financial close. Local law expertise was provided Pinsent Masons’ Saudi association firm Al Sabhan Alajaji, led by partners Ibrahim Alajaji and Abdullah Algowaiz.

Commenting on the deal, Gurmeet Kaur partner said:

"Reaching financial close simultaneously on three significant PPP projects in the Kingdom within an extremely challenging time frame demonstrates our ongoing expertise and innovation in this market, including solving challenges brought by the ongoing pandemic, global supply chain constraints and interest rate transition, and showcases our commitment to meet the objectives of our clients in partnership with SWPC to achieve the wider Vision 2030 goals of the Kingdom”.

The projects are developed under a long-term build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) structure which is a key part of the Kingdom’s 2030 vision for increasing public private partnerships (PPP) in the infrastructure sector. These projects are among the first in the Kingdom (and the first ISTP financings) to achieve Green Loan treatment.