Mena Report

Instrata Capital, Bahrain based regulated asset management company specialized in infrastructure investments, has purchased a stake in Oman s Sembcorp Salalah Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) for Bunyah GCC Infrastructure Fund (Bunyah) from Oman Investment Corporation (OIC).
The Sembcorp Salalah IWPP is a 445MW, 15 Million Imperial Gallons per Day (MIGD) combined cycle gas turbine power and water desalination plant situated in the southern region of Salalah. It is being built and the construction is expected to be finished by April 2012. The project has been executedм under Build, Own and Operate (BOO) manner. It will fulfill the demand in one of Oman s key growth regions. Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) will buy the whole electricity produced under a long term power and water purchase agreement.
Suhail Hajee, CEO of Instrata Capital, said, The Salalah IWPP is an important infrastructure asset for the Sultanate of Oman, and a strategic addition to our existing investment portfolio in the region. The current economic uncertainties have led to an increased focus on infrastructure investment which delivers stable cashflows to investors.
2011 was a challenging year for investment in the region. With this backdrop we are very pleased to have closed the Sembcorp Salalah acquisition. Notwithstanding a challenging economic environment, demand for additional infrastructure projects remains constant driven by strong underlying fundamentals including population and GDP growth and we are confident that there will be significant opportunities for additional infrastructure investment in 2012 and beyond. At Instrata Capital, we are proud of our expertise and understanding of the infrastructure asset class which is demonstrated by our successful track record of investment in infrastructure projects, said Khalid Alshakrani, Managing Director of Instrata Capital.