GIC, GDF Suez secure $1.6bn for Bahrain project

Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) and France's GDF Suez have secured $1.6 billion in financing for the $2.1bn Al Dur power and water project in Bahrain, GIC and GDF said in a joint statement on Sunday.

The statement confirms a Reuters Loan Pricing Corp report based on banking sources late last month.

Tight international credit market conditions had forced GIC to renegotiate financing terms of the project.

"A syndicate of 20 international and regional commercial and Islamic banks, in addition to the Export-Import Bank of the United States, is participating in the $1.6bn loan," the statement said.

The project is due for completion in 2011 and would have capacity to generate 1,240 megawatts of power and desalinate 218,000 cubic metres of sea water a day.

It was already 30 per cent complete, the companies said in the statement.

GDF Suez is the biggest shareholder in the Al Dur project, with a 45 percent stake, the statement said. GIC declined to comment on its stake on Sunday. The two previously held an equal stake in the plant.

Al Dur is located in Bahrain's south, about 40 kms from Al Ezzel, another power generation plant in which GDF Suez has a 45 per cent stake.

Each of the six governments of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) owns an equal stake in GIC. The GCC is a loose political and economic alliance of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.