Business, Freight News, Logistics, Sea

European Transport Deal of the Year Goes to DP World London Gateway

[ January 31, 2012   //   Chris ]

DP World London Gateway has won European Transport Deal of the Year at Project Finance International’s annual awards ceremony in London.

The DP World finance and London Gateway teams, along with its advisors, worked with several international banks to achieve project finance closure in Q4 2011. By securing significant bank funding in a ‘risk averse’ environment, London Gateway has shown it has the credentials to become a world class trading hub when it opens next year.

Simon Brooks, European Investment Bank Vice President for the UK said: “This prestigious award recognises both the hard work of all involved in completing the London Gateway deal and acknowledges the challenge of finalising funding at a time of considerable financial uncertainty for what will be one of the United Kingdom’s most important private sector transport projects.”

Simon Moore, CEO London Gateway said: “Achieving this recognition is excellent news for DP World London Gateway. We are very pleased to have many respected institutions demonstrating a powerful vote of confidence in London Gateway’s value proposition. It’s great to see the world’s leading financiers recognise that importers and exporters will soon start making supply chain savings in 2013 by choosing London Gateway.”

Matthew Vickerstaff, Global Head of Infrastructure and Asset-Based Finance at Societe Generale said: “We are delighted to support one of the UK’s most important infrastructure projects, which will provide the deep water capacity required to keep the UK competitive in the global market.”

Sarmad Qureshi, Director of Finance at DP World Europe & Russia Region said: “We are very pleased to receive the award and would like to thank all our partners for their efforts in securing this important finance deal.”

London Gateway will open in Q4 2013 and it is set to become the premier UK logistics hub.  Offering 9.5 million square feet of logistics park space, independent sources predict 65 million road freight miles every year will be saved as supply chains shorten and significant valuable cost savings are achieved.  The world’s biggest ships will soon be able to call right in the heart of the UK’s trading centre.

Rod Morrison, Editor of Project Finance International, said: “The award is a fantastic achievement for DP World and its London Gateway project given the current financial climate.”

Note: Lenders – DnB NOR, European Investment Bank, HSH Nordbank, Investec, KfW, National Australia Bank, Societe Generale, Royal Bank of Scotland, Unicredit and West LB.