Ahli United Bank has recently joined the banking consortium led by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr to arrange EGP 725 million syndicated loan to El Nasr Company for Coke and Chemicals, subsidiary of the Metallurgical Industries Company. Ahli United Bank will contributed with EGP 215 million to El Nasr Company's loan. The three loan arrangers are expected to sign the loan agreement within days after agreeing that NBE and Banque Misr shall both contribute with EGP 255 million to the loan, a senior banking source told Amwal Al Ghad. The loan, worth EGP 725 million, will be secured through contributions from banks as follows: NBE and Banque Misr (EGP 255 million) and Ahli United Bank (EGP 215 million). After signing the agreement, NBE and Banque Misr can give up portions of their shares in the loan in case of receiving a notification that a new bank is willing to join the consortium. The loan will be used to finance the rebuilding of 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 tonnes. 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 tonnes. 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.
