(EnergyAsia, June 11, Wednesday) — An affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company said it has signed US$6 billion worth of financing arrangements for 15 years with a group of banks and financial institutions to finance part of the cost of its new complex in Jubail Industrial City. The complex will be the world’s largest integrated petrochemical complex.

The financing package is diverse and includes local, regional, international, Islamic and export credit agency debt. Saudi Kayan was advised by Arab Banking Corporation, BNP Paribas and Samba.

The initial mandated lead arrangers are ABN AMRO Bank NV, Arab Banking Corporation, BNP Paribas, HSBC Bank plc and Samba Financial Group. The export credit agencies are ECGD, KEIC, K-EXIM and SACE. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is also financing the project while Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation is providing an Islamic working capital facility.

Mutlaq Hamad Al-Morished, Saudi Kayan chairman and SABIC vice president for corporate finance, signed the agreements on behalf of Saudi Kayan.

The complex, currently under construction, is expected to go on-stream in the fourth quarter of 2010 with a total annual capacity of six million tonnes per year of a variety of petrochemical products including ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, polypropylene and ethylene glycol. It will also manufacture specialised products including aminoethanols, aminomethyls, dimethylformamide, dimethylethanol, dimethylethanolamine, ethoxylates, polycarbonate and acetone.

Mr Al-Morished said SABIC’s keenness to diversify the sources of financing for its projects and to optimise the utilisation of available funding sources, especially Islamic financing.

SABIC holds a 35% of the shareholding in Saudi Kayan with a private shareholder, Al Kayan Petrochemical Company, holding 20%. The remaining 45% is held by Saudi shareholders following an initial public offering last year.