Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised Bapco Energies, the integrated energy company leading the energy transition in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in connection with its disposal of a minority stake in the Saudi Bahrain Pipeline Company (SBPC) to a fund managed by BlackRock’s Diversified Infrastructure team.

SBPC owns a portion of the 112-km pipeline supplying crude oil from Saudi Aramco to Bapco Refining, the national refinery of Bahrain and a subsidiary of Bapco Energies. Under the terms of the transaction, the BlackRock infrastructure fund has taken a minority stake in SBPC, while Bapco Energies retained majority ownership and governance over the company.

This transaction represents Bapco Energies’ first asset monetisation transaction as it seeks to optimise value across its investment portfolio. The transaction also supports the Kingdom’s objective to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2060 through investment in decarbonisation projects within government-owned energy, utility and infrastructure sectors.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partners Chirag Sanghrajka and Craig Nethercott, based in Dubai and London, who commented “Together with Lazard as the financial advisers, we are delighted to have supported Bapco Energies on the structuring and execution of this strategic mandate for the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

Chirag and Craig were supported by a team from Clifford Chance’s Global Financial Markets practice, including Mohamed Hamra-Krouha (Partner, Abu Dhabi), Vany Attarian (Senior Associate, Dubai), Neha Siddiqui (Senior Associate, London) and Saud Aziz (Associate, London). Corporate partner Deniz Tas (Dubai) and senior associate Callum Gribbin (Dubai) also provided support on the corporate aspects of the transaction.