Gulf project finance: After globals leave, locals bridge the gap

LAST SEPTEMBER, a project to build the Rabigh power plant in Saudi Arabia was struggling. Some $3 billion had been arranged to finance the project but the consortium of funders was receiving instructions from home that they could not proceed as conditions in the credit markets were too uncertain. A number of the international players in the project invoked their material adverse conditions clauses and quit. Enter the latest Saudi Arabian bank to participate in project finance.