Osborne Clarke has advised NatWest Bank, part of the RBS group, on its £51.5m loan facility to the Welsh Government and Celtic Manor resort in Wales for a brand new international convention centre, ICC Wales.

The joint venture company will construct and manage the new convention centre as a 50/50 partnership between Welsh Government and Celtic Manor Resort, the golf, spa and leisure hotel resort in Newport, South East Wales.

With a total development cost of £83.7m including car parking and external landscaping, ICC Wales will be capable of accommodating up to 5,000 delegates. The centre will house a 1,500-seat auditorium and separate exhibition hall which, at 4,000 square metres, will provide the largest pillar-free ballroom in Europe, capable of hosting 2,400 people for a gala dinner. Construction on the centre, projected to open in June 2019, will begin in March.

The team that advised NatWest Bank on the transaction was led by Partner Omar Al-Nuaimi and Associate Director Deborah Rowntree, with support from Senior Associate James Brownlee (Banking), Partner Philip Davies and Senior Associate Sarah McCool (Construction), Associate Emma Percival (Property), Legal Director Sarah Knight and Associate Oliver Gingell (Corporate) and Legal Director Marc Shrimpling (Competition).