he Project comprised the design, build, finance operation and maintenance of a district cooling plant with capacity up to 60,000 TR (tonnes of refrigerant) servicing the Dubai Expo 2020 Village. Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), acting as the procurement authority and delivery agent for the Expo 2020 on behalf of the Government of Dubai appointed Tribe to conduct a feasibility study and subsequent tender process to procure a BOT Concessionaire to develop a district cooling plant and network for the Expo 2020 site, Expo Village and associated buildings.
Client: Dubai World Trade Centre
Enterprise Value: USD 150m
Tribe Role: Financial & Commercial Advisor/ Transaction Lead
Financial close: September 2018
Tribe acted as financial and commercial advisor, and lead transaction advisor, to DWTC for the full duration of the project, from concept stage, through feasibility study, procurement and up to financial close.
Tribe was responsible for the following roles on behalf of DWTC:
- Initial concept development and feasibility study, including determination of the appropriate size of facility, and procurement methodology;
- management of other advisors (technical and legal);
- development of appropriate commercial structure to ensure the bankability of the project;
- financial modelling and feasibility analysis;
- drafting of key commercial & financial aspects of project documents;
- managing the RfQ, RfP, Clarifications, Preferred Bidder and Negotiation stages of the tender process;
- representing DWTC in the negotiation of key agreements with counterparties;
- assisting DWTC with reports and presentations required for internal approval at Steering Committee and Investment Committee level
The objective of the project was to structure and deliver a landmark district cooling BOT concession under time critical conditions. This was achieved within the required time frame, and with a record low tariff within the UAE. The timely procurement of the BOT concession enabled the construction of the facility to start on time, allowing for a timely execution ahead of the landmark Dubai Expo 2020.