Технически проблеми бавят строежа на Дунав мост 2

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Fears mount over BNP's Bulgaria nuclear role
Chaminda Jayanetti
03 July 2008



BNP Paribas has elected not to provide lending for Bulgaria's 2,000MW Belene new-build nuclear plant despite being lead structuring and arranging bank - because it deems the project "risky and controversial".

The French bank won the mandate to act for Bulgarian state utility NEK - which is leading the development of the plant - in April, seeing off competition from Société Générale.

The mandate requires BNP to help NEK structure financing for the €4-7 billion project and pull together a syndicate of banks.

Early reports had suggested BNP would provide lending towards the project itself - but the bank said it had no intention of funding the deal.

A statement issued by the bank reads: "BNP Paribas is only an advisor for the Belene project. BNP Paribas reminds that [sic] it has recently announced that it would not finance the Belene project nor be a lead arranger in a potential syndicated financing of the project. It plays a pure advisory role for NEK in structuring the financial aspects of this project."

A spokesperson for the bank refused to elaborate on its reasons for deciding not to provide lending - but a senior BNP Paribas source has told IJ Online that the decision was taken at the highest levels of the bank because it thinks the project is "risky and controversial".

The wording of the mandate document is understood to describe BNP specifically as "lead arranging and structuring bank".

The mandate document does not contractually require BNP to provide lending to Belene - indeed, the wording of the document explicitly gives BNP the right not to provide financing for the project.

However, the mandate document is understood to detail the process by which BNP would provide underwriting for the project if it chose to - an indication that both the bank and NEK anticipated at least the possibility that BNP might help finance it.

NEK is currently tendering for a 49 per cent equity share in the project, with the utility holding on to the 51 per cent majority stake.

RWE and Electrabel have been shortlisted for the stake, and fears are now being expressed on the developer side of the project that BNP's decision not to help finance the project could discourage other banks from providing lending.

Belene is not a simple project by its very nature as a nuclear new-build facility. It will require a large amount of debt financing, which could prove challenging to source if the debt market remains tight. Banks that finance the project could also be the target of protests by anti-nuclear pressure groups.

Questions have also been raised about the experience of the Russian EPC contractor Atomstroyexport, and critics within Bulgaria have claimed the project will not make money - although NEK have dismissed such suggestions.

Indeed, either RWE or Electrabel will provide the project with an experienced co-developer, and Siemens and Areva are both acting as main subcontractors on the construction side. The project also has the backing of the European Commission, and is likely to receive funding from Euratom and the European Investment Bank.

But bankers at some of Europe's biggest project finance lenders have indicated to IJ Online that BNP's decision not to provide any lending as lead structuring and arranging bank could put off other lenders from getting involved.

"That is an absolutely unusual circumstance," one banker said, "especially for a huge project with a very risky technique. I would be very careful if BNP was not lending. There must be something fishy - I would be very, very cautious."

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