Ethylene Loan Arrangers Signed Final Loan Agreement

A consortium composed of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Banque Du Caire, Commercial International Bank (CIB) and Arab International Bank (AIB) signed last Sunday the final agreement of the US$ 1.250 billion loan which will be offered to the Egyptian Company for Ethylene. The loan will be used to finance the construction a complex of ethylene and polyethylene plants in Alexandria.

Sources said the loan arrangers will provide US$ 690 million and ask other banks to contribute US$ 560 million to the loan. 60% of the syndicated loan is a dollar-currency segment amounting to US$ 750 million and 40% of which is a local-currency segment amounting to US$ 500 million.

The National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr and Banque Du Caire had earlier offered the Company a bridge loan with value of US$ 240 million which was directed to issue letter of credit for the Project’s contractor. NBE and Banque Misr each injected US$ 85 million and Banque Du Caire provided US$ 70 million of the bridge loan.

The US$ 1.250 billion loan will be secured through contributions from banks with the following values: NBE (US$ 450 million), Banque Misr (US$ 225 million), CIB (US$ 175 million), Banque Du Caire (US$ 75 million) and AIB (US$ 75 million).

The complex of ethylene and polyethylene plants will be built on an area of 170 feddans (176.46 acres) with an investment cost of EGP 11.5 billion. The project, which will provide 10,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, will be financed through Egyptians only. Egyptian banks will finance 65% of the investment cost.

The ownership structure of the project will be divided as follows: Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (20%), Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Co. (20%), GASCO Company (11%), National Bank of Egypt (21%), National Investment Bank (14%), Banque Misr (10%) and Nasser Social Bank (4%).