Malaysia's Cosmos Petroleum & Mining company has signed up National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) as the financial advisor and lead arranger for its upcoming $1.6 billion polysilicon manufacturing project.

Kuala Lumpur-headquartered Cosmos is an affiliate company of Project Management & Development Company (PMD), based at Al Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia.

The company will undertake the development of the proposed 25,000 tonne per annum polysilicon plant, strategically located at Samalaju Industrial Park, Bintulu, Sarawak, under the Score initiative (Project) in Malaysia.

As per the deal, NBAD will help raise funds for the development of this project, which will be owned and operated by Cosmos Chemicals.

The signing ceremony was attended by Majed Al-Ahmadi, the chairman of PMD and Cosmos; Anand R. Iyer, the director of Cosmos Petroleum & Mining; Dr S Juvarajan, the CEO of Cosmos Petroleum & Mining; Mark A. Yassin, the senior general manager of Global Banking at NBAD; and Leong See Meng, the CEO of NBAD Malaysia.

The plant, which will be one of the largest in Asia, is expected to commence production in 2016. Once ready, the plant will be one of the lowest cost polysilicon producers in the world.

“The polysilicon project is in line with Sarawak government’s Score initiative of promoting green and sustainable energy solutions leading to further development of industrial base in the state,” remarked Majed Al-Ahmadi.

“NBAD has been appointed as financial advisor to the project based on their excellent track record as a leading project finance and advisory institution,” remarked Anand R. Iyer.

"Renewable sources of energy will remain a priority globally, and solar energy in particular is a logical industry to take off and flourish in Malaysia and Asia Pacific region, as well as in the Mena region," he noted.

"NBAD is supportive of the Polysilicon industry and we are very delighted to have been appointed as financial advisors for this prestigious project," said its senior general manager (Global Banking) Mark A.Yassin.

“NBAD is the preferred gateway for Arab businesses investing in Malaysia. It has extensive cross border financial advisory experience and the capability to support projects with a continuum of financial services,” remarked Leong See Meng.-TradeArabia News Service