PHOTO
Riyadh, 1 February 2015:
International Company for Water & Power Projects ("ACWA Power") announced today the official first closing of the Powervest Fund ("the Fund") with commitments of c. SAR 596 million (c. USD 159 million).
The Fund is domiciled in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ("the Kingdom" /"KSA") and set up under investment regulations of the Kingdom's Capital Market Authority ("CMA") as a 12 year closed ended privately placed fund managed by SAMBA Capital & Investment Management Company ("SAMBA Capital").
The Fund is a first of its kind initiative in the region, involving a dedicated captive infrastructure fund that has the right to co-invest with ACWA Power in various projects in the conventional power generation and water desalination space across ACWA Power investment regions. Additionally, the Fund breaks new ground in becoming the first Sharia compliant specialized infrastructure investment vehicle in the Kingdom.
Mr. Paddy Padmanathan, President & CEO of ACWA Power, stated that "ACWA Power is proud to have attracted such a strong group of financial and strategic partners of high repute into this captive co-investment fund."
In keeping with the path-breaking nature of the transaction, the Fund has attracted a group of sophisticated anchor investors comprising multilaterals, pension funds, sovereign institutions and parastatals into a long-term partnership framework with ACWA Power that enables them to participate in ACWA Power's growth story through the co-investment opportunities offered to the Fund. The investors in the Fund include Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation ("APICORP"), Public Investment Fund ("PIF"), Saudi Aramco Investment Management Company ("SAIMCO"), The Arab Investment Company ("TAIC") and the Islamic Development Bank ("IDB").
Mr. Thamer Al Sharhan, Managing Director of ACWA Power congratulated the ACWA Power and SAMBA Capital teams on the successful first closing of the Fund and said "The Fund brings to the fore ACWA Power's philosophy of building partnerships and leveraging capital available within the Kingdom towards its aim of delivering best in class power generating and water desalination assets for clients and off-takers while at the same time maximizing the value creation for all stakeholders."
Furthermore, Mr. Rajit Nanda, Chief Investment Officer of ACWA Power observed that "the first closure of a very unique co-investment and partnership initiative once again demonstrates ACWA Power's willingness and ability to engage with multiple 'best in class counterparties' and overcome multiple challenges towards achieving innovative solutions to sustain its growth"
-Ends-
About ACWA
ACWA Power is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of plants across 10 countries with a capacity to generate 16.1 GW of power and produce 2.5 million m3 /day of desalinated water, and which has an investment value in excess of USD 25 billion.
ACWA Power was born out of the policy decision by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to increase private sector involvement in power generation and desalinated water production to include ownership and operation of assets, and has now grown to be an investor, developer and operator of power generation and desalinated water producing plants in which it has a meaningful economic interest and exercises management control.
The company was incorporated in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is owned by eight Saudi conglomerates, Sanabil Direct Investment Company (owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia), the Saudi Public Pensions Agency and the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group).
From its base in Saudi Arabia, ACWA Power has already expanded or is expanding into the GCC, Jordan and Egypt and further afield to Turkey, Morocco, the southern cone of Africa and South East Asia, and has offices in Dubai, Istanbul, Rabat, Johannesburg, Maputo, Hanoi and Beijing.
The current portfolio of assets services a customer base that includes state utilities and an industrial major, and comprises:
In operation:
· 6,058 MW of power, 2.2 million m³/day of desalinated water and 1,230 tons/hour of steam capacity in Saudi Arabia
· 1,277 MW of power in Jordan
· 427 MW of power and over 136,000 m³/day of desalinated water in Oman
· 60MWp of power using Photo Voltaic (PV) technology in its solar plant in Bulgaria.
Under construction:
· 6,147 MW of power, 55,000 m³/day of desalinated water and 1,015 tons/hour of steam capacity in Saudi Arabia
· 160 MWe Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant at Ouarzazate and in Morocco
· 50 MWe CSP plant at Bokpoort in South Africa
· 926 MW CCGT plant at Kirikkale in Turkey
- 56,825 m³/day of desalinated water in Oman
Under development:
§ 120 MW wind and 350 MWe CSP plants in Morocco
§ 275 MW coal fired power plant in Mozambique
§ 100 MWe CSP plant in South Africa
§ 260 MWp Solar PV plant in UAE
ACWA Power lives by its mission - to reliably deliver electricity and desalinated water at the lowest possible cost in the countries we invest in, and operates the business according to its values: Diversity, Rigor, Ingenuity, Fairness and Integrity.
Editorial contacts:
Naif Abu Saida
Executive Director of Marketing & Corporate Communications
ACWA Power
M: +966.55.881.1461
E: nabusaida@acwapower.com
© Press Release 2015
