Banking consortium offers $1.2bn offer to finance 3 Egyptian power plants

A banking consortium has made an offer worth 10 Egyptian pounds (US$1.2billion) for the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company to fund three power plants, a source with knowledge of the matter said Thursday.

The three power plants are located in Beni Suef Governorate, Burullus area in Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate, and the new administrative capital, the source told Amwal Al Ghad.

The consortium encompasses nine banks: National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr (BM), Commercial International Bank (CIB), QNB Alahli, Arab African International Bank (AAIB), Bank Audi Egypt, AlexBank, Egyptian Gulf Bank (EGBE), Ahli United Bank.

As pursuant to the agreement, the source said the Egyptian Electricity Holding would be given a three-year grace period and the loan would be paid back over 15 years.

The source clarified that the company is set to decide on the offer next week as decision makers care to overcome the electricity problem resulted from the growth on consuming rates versus the generated capacity within the last years.

Moreover, the source stated that the German company Siemens has recently discussed with a number of banks to open letters of guarantee with total value estimated at €1.2 billion dedicated for establishing the three power plants.