NDB Project Finance wins Gold for ‘Deal of the Year’ at SLIBFI awards

National Development Bank PLC (NDB) was recently awarded the Gold award for Deal of the Year, at Sri Lanka Islamic Banking and Finance Industry Awards (SLIBFI), for the bank’s participation in financing a hydropower project in Uganda, where NDB also acted as the lead arranger in the syndication with another local bank.

NDB, as an organisation with its roots in development banking, together with its deep industry insights, expertise and long-standing customer relationships, has been able to build a strong reputation and excellence in project and infrastructure financing. The understanding of the workings of different industries and overseas markets as well as a holistic value proposition, which includes the provision of advisory services, has made NDB’S Project Finance (PF) Unit a preferred financial partner for companies seeking long-term financing, both locally and overseas.

The PF Unit of NDB possesses the competence to assist its corporate clients in complex transactions and propel them towards the next phase of development in their businesses. With over four decades of project financing experience and in-house engineering and legal expertise, NDB not only plays a role of financial partner in these projects but also acts as a project partner where advice on project management and legal aspects are also made available to the promoters.

The package of services offered by NDB not only ensures the successful implementation of the project but also ascertains satisfactory returns to both the promoters as well as the bank, thus creating a win-win solution for both parties.

The bank has been doing project financing since 2015 under Islamic banking – NDB Shareek. Accordingly, the bank has granted facilities close to Rs.3 billion under Islamic banking for the energy sector, both locally and overseas.

Meanwhile, the bank is also actively pursuing opportunities to finance projects under the Shariah-compliant products and is currently working with project promoters to materialise few projects both in the country and overseas.

The project portfolio of NDB’S PF Unit consists of projects in the sectors such as power and energy, mixed development, financial services, construction, food and beverages, government infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare, etc. This Gold award was for NDB’S involvement in hydropower.

Renewable energy projects help the planet by avoiding emissions of many harmful gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOX), which otherwise would have been emitted t hrough power generation through burning carbon-based fuels such as diesel and coal.

The 6.5 MW hydropower project funded through NDB’S partnership is expected to prevent 17.2 million kilograms of CO2 a year, according to the calculations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).