DUBAI: United Arab Emirates company Majid al Futtaim announced on Tuesday that it would be financing its massive Mall of Egypt project through two Egyptian banks. The statement said the company would receive a loan of some $500 million for the project. Reuters news agency quoted three sources close to the UAE company saying the developer had chosen Banque Misr and National Bank of Egypt as the lead lenders for the project. The project aims to create and build one of North Africa's largest shopping areas, with some 160,000 square meters of stores in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Another source close to the company confirmed the Reuters report to Bikyamasr.com on Wednesday, saying the “project is a go and everyone is very excited about what it will bring to Egypt.” A proposal is expected to be sent to other banks in the next two weeks, once final decisions over the transaction structure have been made. Commitments in dollars and Egyptian pounds are likely to be permitted, the sources said. Interest in the deal is likely to be restricted to local and regional banks as many internationals have restrictions on lending into Egypt following political unrest there. “I don't see MAF going outside the local banks. There aren't a lot of banks outside Egypt that are going to put money on the table right now,” one of the sources, a London-based banker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the news agency. The Mall of Egypt loan had been earmarked for early 2011 but the political unrest resulted in the plans being postponed, a separate source at an international bank said. MAF has two malls, three hypermarkets and some supermarkets already in Egypt. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/1Euoh Tags: Cairo, Majid al Futtaim, Mall of Egypt, UAE Section: Business, Egypt, Latest News, United Arab Emirates
