ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES--(Marketwire - March 8, 2011) - King & Spalding announced today that it advised Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), the master developer of major tourism, cultural and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on all aspects of the company's competitively bid district energy system that will service a multi-billion development project on Saadiyat, a multi-faceted island development adjacent to Abu Dhabi. King & Spalding advised TDIC on the project structure and tender process, and drafted and negotiated all of the project agreements through to closing.
District energy is a method by which thermal energy from a central source is distributed to residential, commercial and industrial consumers for use in space cooling or heating. The private sector concessionaire on this project is Paragon Utilities LLC, which through a concession agreement with TDIC, will design, construct, commission, operate and maintain three non-integrated district cooling plants that produce a total of 50,500 tons of refrigeration (TR). The concessionaire is a joint venture comprising Arcapita Bank and Dalkia Utilities.
The deal is the first privately financed district cooling project in the Middle East under an innovative public-private-partnership (PPP) concession model that has the potential to become the standard for district energy deals in other markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
For more information about this transaction, click here: http://www.tdic.ae/en/news/media-center/news/tdic-awards-first-public-private-partnership-concession-on-saadiyat-for-one-of-middle-easts-largest.html.
King & Spalding partner Tim Burbury said, "We are very pleased with the result for Tourism Development & Investment Company and proud to be associated with this groundbreaking deal. We congratulate TDIC on its success."
When completed in 2020, Saadiyat is expected to be home to 145,000 residents and have a full complement of leisure and tourism facilities, as well as the world's largest single concentration of premier cultural institutions, including the Zayed National Museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a performing arts center and maritime museum.
The King & Spalding legal team advising TDIC in this deal was led by global transactions partner Tim Burbury (Abu Dhabi), supported by partner Wael Wahbeh (Dubai), partner Scott Samuel (London) and counsel Tim Tucker (Abu Dhabi).
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