PPP-based Oman hospitals named among Best Deals of 2019

MUSCAT: A project encompassing the development of three major, internationally-funded public hospitals for Oman’s Ministry of Health has been named among 15 best global corporate deals of 2019 by a leading industry publication. Global Trade Review (GTR), a prominent UK-based international publication, listed ‘Oman’s Ministry of Finance Hospitals Project’ among the top transactions of 2019. The winning deals, featured in the latest edition of the magazine, feature a mix of trade, commodity, supply chain and export finance, as well as fintech-led transactions. Oman’s Ministry of Finance Hospitals deal centres on a first-ever initiative by the Omani government to tap international finance to fund the development of three major public hospitals on behalf of the Ministry of Health.  The total size of the borrowings towards the three institutions – which are in early stages of construction in Salalah, Khasab and Suwaiq – is $873.7 million. Global coordinating banks, joint structuring banks and bookrunners for the total funding were Crédit Agricole CIB and Standard Chartered, while the mandated lead arrangers were Crédit Agricole CIB (documentation bank), MUFG (agent bank), Natixis, Société Générale, and Standard Chartered. Buyer credit from the UK Export Finance (UKEF), Britain’s principal export credit agency, combined with both bank and UKEF lending together with three associated commercial loans, were made available to the Omani government to finance the project. The tenor is 14 years for UKEF supported loans and five years for commercial loans. Playing a key role in the delivery of the trio of hospitals is International Hospitals Group (IHG), an international healthcare services company based in the UK. Buckinghamshire-based IHG, which has delivered large-scale healthcare projects around the world, had earlier announced that it had won the contract to design and build the hospitals under a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement with Oman’s Ministry of Health. IHG is providing a full design, construction and services package for all three hospitals, with local Omani construction firm Al Tasnim Enterprises as the sub-contractor. Work will also include the construction of emergency power systems, maintenance facilities, roads and other associated infrastructure. ‘All hospitals will be built in compliance with UK NHS standards – a prerequisite of the Sultanate, according to a backgrounder note on the project. The hospitals are the first to be constructed with export finance support in the region and on such a scale and required intensive coordination of six separate financing facilities. The financing covers the construction of three hospitals in the Sultanate which serve significant objectives as they will provide high quality diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation services for different medical cases in three governorates, it added.