Saudi-based ACWA Power International said it has successfully completed the deal to purchase a 58 per cent stake in the Barka 1 Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) in Oman.

ACWA, a leading developer, owner and operator of power generation and desalinated water production plants, said the transaction was based on a share purchase agreement with The AES Corporation, IDB Infrastructure Fund and their subsidiaries.

The remaining stake in Barka 1 IWPP is owned by Multitech (7 per cent), while the other 35 per cent is publicly owned as shares floated in the Muscat Security Market, the company said in a statement.

Last December ACWA Power had announced winning the bid for Barka 1 IWPP in Oman which was subject to the customary stakeholder and regulatory approvals.

The company had clinched the bid for the Omani water and power production facility after a tough competition from leading developer consortia.

The bidding culminated with final bids submitted by ACWA Power and two other bidders representing consortia of international water and power companies, said a top official.

'We are delighted to add this asset into our portfolio and to take the first step beyond our home country,' remarked Paddy Padmanathan, ACWA Power’s president and chief executive officer.

'We are even more pleased to welcome the team of 60 professionals of whom more than half are Omani citizens, who are all currently managing this enterprise and operating and maintaining this facility, into the expanding team at ACWA Power and its operation and maintenance subsidiary companies,' he added.

The acquisition transaction was completed with the transfer of funds to the sellers and in parallel transfer of ownership to the purchasers on August 19 after getting approvals from the Authority for Electricity Regulation, Oman, the lenders of the project’s finance facility, and the Capital Markets Authority, Oman.

According to Paddy, Oman follows a single buyer model and thus Oman Power & Water Procurement Company is the off-taker of both power and water.

Barka 1 IWPP, located 60 km northwest of Muscat, can deliver 456 MW to the Oman Electricity grid and 91,000 cu m per day of desalinated sea water. The plant is connected and exports to the North Oman Grid; however, the power predominantly is consumed in the Muscat Governorate.

The plant is equipped with dual fuel capability, natural gas being the main fuel and diesel fuel oil as a back-up.

ACWA Power’s entry to the Oman market with Barka 1 IWPP is the first step of the company’s strategy to internationalize its business by building on the solid foundation of its string of successes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“Having achieved the objectives we set for the first five years of building a team and assembling a world class portfolio of projects producing over 6,000 MW of electricity and 2.3 million cu m of desalinated water per day, we are now embarking on our next five year plan, which is founded on our proven ability to reliably dispatch water and power,” said Paddy.

“Barka 1 IWPP will be important to our ambitious but well defined target of growing the asset base to 30,000 MW gross contracted capacity of power and 5 million cubic meters per day of gross desalinated water by the year 2014,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service