CAIRO: Investment bank CI Capital and Commercial International Bank will develop a partnership with China Development Bank that includes international syndicated loans for investment projects, according to a statement. The memorandum of understanding signed between the two Egyptian entities and one of the top five banks in China will also entail cooperation on infrastructure projects, namely under the public private partnerships (PPP) schemes. The partnership will offer investment banking services through deal origination, assisting in structuring and in raising equity and debt components for projects, the statement read. The agreement between CI Capital, CIB and CDB will also include information sharing on project financing and trading finance, as well as project appraisals; as well as cooperation on projects related to the SME sector. In its daily market report, investment bank Beltone Financial said, “We expect that the partnership would be more on the investment banking, rather than the commercial banking side of the business.” Fu Ziying, China's vice minister of commerce, was in attendance at the MOU signing, which was penned by Qingdong ZHU, president of CDB West Asian and North African section and the Chief Representative of CDB Cairo; Essam Elwakil, CEO and board member of CIB, and Karim Helal, Group CEO CI Capital. CI Capital said this follows similar initiatives concluded in Singapore, Korea, Turkey and Hong Kong; and is in line with CI Capital and CIB's aim to expand “in markets that are of interest to their client base and where there are opportunities and interest to attract foreign investments and [joint ventures] in Egypt.” “This alliance is a clear indication of CI Capital and CIB's ‘Look East' initiative undertaken nearly two years ago to position itself as a dual gateway for the East,” the statement read. CDB has issued $250 billion in loans to more than 4,000 projects in the past decade involving infrastructure, communications, transportation and basic industries. By the end of 2010, its total assets reached $757 billion and net profit was $5.3 billion. The bank committed $1 billion in funding to support the development of the SME sector in Africa, one of eight new cooperation initiatives with Africa. CDB also expanded its global network by establishing a representative office in Cairo.
