Infrastructure Journal (IJ) has awarded Global Arranger of the Year 2009 to SMBC group in recognition of its 'sterling' work lending across multiple sectors and regions.

SMBC was recognised by the IJ judging panel for the quality of its deals, after reviewing the breadth of undertaking by the bank’s global project finance teams.

SMBC group lent on IJ's 2009 Deal of the Year, the Victoria Desalination project, and were among the mandated lead arrangers (MLAs) on deals of the year in the Oil & Gas and Power categories with Dolphin Energy and Shuweihat 2 IWPP respectively.

The bank was closely involved in structuring the Senoko Power acquisition refinancing in Singapore, a deal which was not honoured in this year's IJ awards but was nonetheless hugely significant for the industry.

In all, SMBC group lent on 36 project finance deals to close in 2009, lending US$3.1 billion throughout the year. Other notable closes for the bank were UK deals such as Manchester Waste PFI, the M25 PFI and the Gatwick Airport sale, and the Salalah IWPP in Oman.

SMBC acheived a top five position in global MLA league tables publish by IJ and Project Finance International.