Nord Stream has won the award for European mid-stream gas project of the year at this year’s Project Finance Awards ceremony. The awards recognise innovation, deal repeatability, best practice, problem solving, risk mitigation, value for money and speed of delivery in financing.
Nord Stream was singled out in particular for the fact that 2.5 billion euros were raised towards the end of 2010, close on the heels of the 3.9 billion euros which were raised earlier in the year despite a very restricted lending climate when the deal first approached the market in 2009.
Paul Corcoran, Nord Stream Financial Director, said ‘We are delighted to have won this award, a further recognition of the qualities that attracted lenders to Nord Stream in the first place – a reliable, well structured, highly commercial project in the long-term strategic interests of both Europe and Russia’.
All deals are vetted by journalists from Project Finance Magazine, and shortlisted via a weighting system based on these categories. The shortlist is then debated by the team and independent industry representatives. The final decisions are made through a further, more detailed, weighting system. On average 300-350 of the best deals of the given year in Europe and Africa are entered for the awards.
Since the banking crisis of 2008, all deals have been judged in the context of the lending climate at the time of finance close, and repeatability of deal structure in the new climate has been given a slightly higher weighting than in previous years.
The Project Finance Awards, now in its 12th year, took place yesterday evening at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London. It is organised by Euromoney Publications, who publish Project Finance Magazine.
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Source: Nord Stream, February 10, 2011;