11 Banks Show Willingness To Finance Steel Company

About eleven banks have given initial approvals to contribute up to 150% to the Islamic syndicated loan amounting to EGP 1.07 billion which is being arranged for the Egyptian Steel Group, owned by the businessman Ahmed Abu Hashima.

Ahmed El-Dorghamy, head of Islamic finance department at Banque Misr, said the loan arrangers are close to signing the final agreement of the seven-year term loan that will be used to finance the establishment of Egyptian Steel Factory in Beni Suef. The company will be given grace period of two years and a repayment period of five years.

The value of finance was raised to EGP 1.070 billion from EGP 900 million in order to cover the costs of restructuring a factory for steel in Alexandria.

Société Arabe Internationale de Banque (SAIB) has joined the consortium comprising of Banque Misr and Bank Audi. SAIB will provide EGP 150 million. In addition, the National Bank for Development (NBD) may contribute to the loan in the upcoming period.

Banque Misr targets to restructure loans amounting to EGP 6 billion by the end of 2013, which were given to finance infrastructure, electricity and steel projects.