Eversheds triumphs at the IFLR Middle East Awards

Eversheds' deal has won the ‘Project Finance Deal of the Year’ at the International Financial Law Review’s (IFLR) 11th annual Middle East Awards.

The award recognised Eversheds’ innovative work advising Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) on a $3 billion tender for a new independent power and water plant (IWPP). The deal involved the construction of Facility D, a 2,520 MW gas-fired power plant and a 136.5 million gallons per day associated desalination plant near the Qatar Economic Zone, south of Doha. The output of the plant will represent almost 25% of Qatar’s total installed power and 30% of water desalination capacity.

The team on Facility D was led by Tim Armsby (Partner and Head of Energy & Infrastructure for the Middle East) and principal associate Nick Pinder (Qatar) who provided legal expertise in relation to matters of English and Qatari law.

The awards, which recognise all law firms advising on the winning deal, are run by IFLR, a leading global publication on the legal issues and legal risk in the world's financial markets. They celebrate the most innovative deals, individuals, teams and firms over the last 12 months.

Eversheds was also nominated for the ‘Project Finance Deal of the Year’ category for their work on the financing of the Jordanian solar project Falcon Ma’an as well as being nominated for ‘Project Finance Team of the year’.

Tim Armsby commented:

“We are extremely proud to win this award as it is testament to the project finance team’s hard work and commitment to quality and innovation. The team had to deal with many challenges and we implemented new and inventive structuring to the project. This is the first independent power and water plant in Qatar with a cost of water production lower than the end-user tariffs and the deal’s structure is a leading example of the future of power and energy provision across the region.”

Nasser Ali Khasawneh, Middle East Managing Partner, said:

“We are a market leader in the project finance space in the Middle East and so it is great to see Eversheds’ work in the region recognised at these prestigious awards.”