The financial closure was achieved on April 22 during the continued lockdowns in both Bangladesh and Singapore, said a press release on Friday.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has provided outstanding support by processing various approvals during this lockdown to facilitate the financing process, said the press release.

Muhammed Aziz Khan, chairman of Summit Group of Companies, said they are grateful to their customers and financiers and assured hard diligent work to progress.

Audra Low, chief executive officer (CEO) of Clifford Capital said: “Clifford Capital is delighted to support Summit Power International, an established Singapore-based infrastructure developer, in the company’s plans to expand its energy portfolio in Bangladesh.”

The financing is core to our mandate of supporting companies in Singapore in their overseas investments and stands testament to Clifford Capital’s capabilities to structure, coordinate and execute innovative financings, leveraging on our expertise in the power sector in Bangladesh, he added.

Jeanne Soh, head of power, Renewables and Infrastructure, Structured Finance Department Asia-Pacific, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) said, “We’re happy to support our key customer Summit Corporation in connection with this transaction. We look forward to a long and fruitful cooperation between SMBC and Summit Corporation.”

Initially the local banks in Bangladesh -- Bank Asia, The City Bank, Prime Bank and Mutual Trust Bank had supported Summit through construction financing of Summit Gazipur II Power.

Summit is expected to receive the last installment of the funding after the lockdown ends, said the press release.

It noted that this is a milestone in Bangladesh’s international investment and financing as Summit is the first Independent Power Producer (IPP) to receive financing from international commercial institutions.

Previously, most of the financing had come from development finance institutions (DFIs) such as DEG, FMO, IFC, ADB, IsDB, CDC, etc or had substantial portions in the financing mix, it said.

Summit Gazipur II Power Limited is a joint venture of Summit Corporation Limited and Summit Power Limited (SPL).

The Project will supply power to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement with a long-term fuel supply agreement with Summit Oil & Shipping Co Ltd (SOSCL), the largest fuel oil supplier in Bangladesh.

This project was implemented as a fast-track project only in nine-months and began commercial operations on May 10, 2018, and had since been supplying reliable power into the grid, alleviating the power generation capacity shortages in Bangladesh.