Akin Gump Advises LUKOIL on $500 Million Project Financing in Uzbekistan
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(London) – Leading international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has advised OAO LUKOIL on a project financing of up to $500 million for the Khauzak-Shady and Kandym gas fields in Uzbekistan.
The transaction signed on Friday, March 30, with a consortium of lenders consisting of BNP Paribas (Suisse) S.A., Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, The Korea Development Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
This project is the biggest financing ever to a private company operating in the fuel and energy sector in Uzbekistan.
The financing had three components—a commercial facilities tranche, an ADB tranche and an Islamic financing tranche from IDB—and is supported by political risk insurance provided by ADB and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank Group.
Proceeds from the loan will be used to finance the development of the Kandym field and increase production at the Khauzak-Shady fields under a production sharing agreement signed by OAO LUKOIL, Uzbekneftegaz and the government of Uzbekistan in 2004.
OAO LUKOIL is Russia’s second largest oil and gas company in terms of reserves and the largest Russian oil business group with annual sales of over $100 billion. It was the first Russian company to receive full listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Akin Gump London finance partner Robert Aulsebrook is leading the team with Abu Dhabi project finance partner Oli Charlesworth. London finance counsel Vanessa Evans, Moscow counsel Alexander Trukhtanov and London associates Inderveer Hothi and Amanda Tan filled out the team advising LUKOIL.
Shearman & Sterling advised the lenders.
Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a leading international law firm, numbers more than 800 lawyers and advisors in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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