Lunate to acquire Snam stake in Abu Dhabi pipeline
28 January 2025
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Lunate is to acquire a minority stake in Adnoc Gas Pipelines that is indirectly held by Italian gas infrastructure operator Snam.
The deal comes less than one year after Lunate acquired a 40% stake in Adnoc Oil Pipelines from US asset management firms BlackRock and KKR.
The transaction with Snam, which is subject to the signing of the sale and purchase agreement, as well as to the potential exercise of the relevant shareholders’ rights, will be made through Lunate’s Long-Term Capital Fund 1, Snam said in a statement on 28 January.
Adnoc Gas Pipelines, a subsidiary of state energy company Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), has lease rights to 38 pipelines covering a total of 982 kilometres across the UAE.
The gas pipeline network serves as a strategic link connecting Adnoc's upstream assets to local UAE offtakers.
"It represents a high-quality and essential asset that generates stable and predictable cash flows in a critical sector and is a major contributor to the UAE’s energy infrastructure strategy," the statement said.
Snam acquired its stake in Adnoc Gas Pipelines in 2020, along with other consortium partners, including GIP, GIC, Brookfield Asset Management, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and NH Investment & Securities, through Galaxy Pipeline Assets HoldCo.
Lunate acquired its 40% stake in Adnoc Oil Pipelines from BlackRock and KKR in April 2024.
The acquisition by Lunate’s Long Term Capital Fund was executed through the purchase of a 100% stake in a special purpose vehicle jointly held by BlackRock and KKR managed funds, Lunate said at the time.
The parties did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. BlackRock and KKR spent $4bn on the acquisition of the 40% stake in Adnoc Oil Pipelines in 2019.
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Alpha Dhabi acquires controlling interest in NCTH
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Abu Dhabi-listed Alpha Dhabi Holding has acquired a controlling 73.73% interest in Abu Dhabi-listed National Corporation for Tourism & Hotels (NCTH) after selling assets from Alpha Dhabi Hospitality Holding (ADHH) and Murban Energy to NCTH in exchange for shares.
In a statement, Alpha Dhabi said the transaction strengthens NCTH’s position and Alpha Dhabi Holding’s investment in the domestic and international luxury hospitality sector.
The deal involves the transfer of four key hotel assets, including two in Abu Dhabi – the St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort and Al-Wathba, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa. The other two hotels are the Cheval Blanc Randheli in the Maldives and the Cheval Blanc Seychelles.
The properties increase NCTH’s portfolio to eight hotels with nearly 1,500 keys.
In May 2023, Alpha Dhabi Holding said it had a 36.4% shareholding in NCTH. The share acquisition was executed via a purchase from an existing shareholder for a total consideration of AED730m ($199m).
According to GlobalData, Abu Dhabi’s tourism sector is set for further expansion in 2025, with projections indicating a continued increase in both visitor numbers and hotel capacity.
The emirate aims to attract 39.3 million visitors by 2030, and this growth strategy will likely see the tourism sector’s contribution to GDP increase from nearly $13.3bn in 2023 to $24.5bn by 2030.
Domestic tourism expenditure is expected to reach approximately $8.7bn by 2025, with the hotel sector anticipated to grow to 863 properties, with about 168,700 rooms.
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Contractors to start Rumah 1 and Nairiyah 1 work
29 January 2025
The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors for the Rumah 1 and Nairiyah 1 combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) projects in Saudi Arabia are preparing to start construction work.
The start of construction will follow the issuance of a limited notice to proceed by the developer team to the EPC contractors, comprising a team of China’s Sepco 3 and South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility.
The Rumah 1 and Nairiyah 1 independent power projects (IPPs) will each have a capacity of 1,800MW.
A consortium comprising Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Riyadh-based utility developer Acwa Power and South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) won the contract to develop the two CCGT IPPs.
The developer consortium signed the power-purchase agreements (PPAs) for the two projects with the principal buyer, Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), in November last year.
According to a local media report, the SEC, Acwa Power and Kepco team offered a levelised electricity cost (LCOE) of $cents 4.5859 a kilowatt-hour (kWh) for Rumah 1, and $cents 4.6114/kWh for Nairiyah 1.
Acwa Power said in a statement that the two IPP facilities will require a combined investment of approximately SR15bn ($4bn).
The IPPs are expected to reach commercial operations in Q2 2008.
Tokyo-headquartered Mitsubishi Power will supply the gas turbines to power the two plants.
Rumah 1 is located in the Central Region in Riyadh and is part of the previously planned Riyadh Power Plant 15 (PP15). Nairiyah 1 is located in the Eastern Region.
SPPC received bids for the contracts for four thermal IPPs – the other two being the similarly configured Rumah 2 and Nairiyah 2 – in August last year.
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Dewa selects solar park phase 7 advisers
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State utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) is understood to have selected a transaction advisory team for the next phase of Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park.
The planned seventh phase of the solar park will include a 1,600MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant and a 1,000MW battery energy storage system (bess) plant, providing up to six hours of storage.
According to a source familiar with the project, a team comprising the UK-headquartered Deloitte, and US-based CMS and Sargent & Lundy won the financial, legal and technical advisory package for the project, with Deloitte acting as lead adviser.
It is understood the client is expected to start the prequalification process for developers before the year-end.
An estimated 1,913MW of solar PV capacity and 950MW of hybrid solar PV and concentrated solar power (CSP) capacity from the MBR solar park are now connected to the grid.
A further 1,800MW of capacity for the project’s sixth phase is under construction.
Source: Dewa
In February last year, Dewa and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) reached financial close for the 1,800MW sixth phase of MBR Solar Park, which is expected to cost up to AED5.51bn ($1.5bn).
Once completed in 2026, the 1,800MW sixth phase will increase the solar park’s total production capacity to 4,660MW.
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- 900MW solar PV phase five: Commissioned in 2023
- 1,800MW solar PV phase six: Under construction
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Dewa’s electricity installed capacity reached 16,270MW by the end of 2023.
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READ MEED's YEARBOOK 2025MEED’s 16th highly prized flagship Yearbook publication is available to read.
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