The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) will ask other banks to contribute EGP 100 million to the EGP 360 million which NBE said to contribute to the €85 million (EGP 720 million) loan for El Nasr Company for Coke and Chemicals, subsidiary of the Metallurgical Industries Company. Mahmoud Montasser, member of NBE's board of directors and head of credit sector at NBE, stated that NBE, Banque Misr and National Société Générale Bank (NSGB) wait the approvals of their boards of directors to sign the loan agreement by next week. NBE plans to provide 50% of the loan (EGP 360 million), while Banque Misr and NSGB will provide the remaining value, he added. The loan will be used to rebuild the third battery of the company to comply with the new standards as El Nasr Company for Coke has four batteries with 230 ovens which have annual production capacity of 1.6 million tons. The company rebuilt its first battery in 2000 and the second one in 2006. It targets to rebuild the third battery which has 65 ovens with annual production capacity of 560,000 tons. The third battery is slated to be in service in 2013. The loan will finance 68% of the project's investment cost which is €125 million.
