The National Bank for Development (NBD) and Bank Audi have announced that they won their bid to act as a joint lead manager and book-runner of a loan with value of EGP 688 million to Egyptian Company for Potash & Chemical Industries to finance the establishment of a factory for fertilizers. Earlier at the mid of this month Amwal Al Ghad reported exclusively that Bank Audi and NBD signed an initial terms sheet to offer EGP 688 million to the Company after a fierce competition with five banks including National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Alex Bank, Credit Agricole and NSGB. The consortium said in a statement today that the finance will be directed to the establishment of a factory in the industrial region in Sadat City on an area of 160,000 m2 with an estimated investment cost of EGP 1.187 billion. The production capacity of the factory is estimated at 948,700 tons annually. This deal reflects the banks' confidence in the future of Egypt's economy, the statement added. The deal will be in compliance with sharia-compliant Istisna and Ijara systems by which the banks respond to the customers' request to finance the manufacturing of machines and production lines in accordance with the standards set by the company. The machines will be delivered to the customers in return for Ijara premiums. Both banks will invite banks with Islamic finance licenses to participate in the finance. The deal is part of the banks' efforts to provide sharia-complaint financial solutions for all sectors to boost Egypt's economy and production in the upcoming period.
