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“Deal of the Year”

for Norte III, Mexico

By force of creativity and prestige, Techint Engineering &
Construction helps save a combined-cycle power plant project in
northern Mexico from bankruptcy

Techint E&C Communication Depart.

t all started in 2014. Mexico’s electricity authority banks, Abengoa’s parent company sank in financial dire
(CFE, Comisión Federal de Electricidad) opened straits in Spain. Fearing that they might not be able to
the bid for the construction of a power plant in the recover their funds, the banks did not provide the
northern State of Chihuahua. It also reached an project with long term financing. By March 2016, the
agreement for natural gas supply for the future project ran out of funds and stalled.
Iplant and the construction of the gas pipeline Macquarie, an investment and financial advisory firm,
from Texas. Power consumption in Chihuahua is was trying to put together a solution to save the project
expected to grow by more than 3% a year over the next from collapse and reached out to Techint to form a
decade and the region was singled out as a weak point consortium. The CFE authority was willing to give the
in the country’s power distribution system. The plant new players some time to get a rescue plan going. “We
was to be running by November 2017. all had to be very creative in structuring this deal”,
In early 2015, the project was awarded to the Spanish explains Alberto Moscosa, now Techint Construction
firm Abengoa under a 25-year contract with CFE. Manager at the project. “As Abengoa had already
However, as construction got started, thanks to a USD carried out 70% of the detail engineering, we had to go
200 million bridge loan from a group of international through a due diligence process. We didn’t know

IndustrIal Plants - May 2018
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