Cairo – Mubasher: Canal Sugar Co, a subsidiary of UAE-based Al Ghurair Group, signed a bridge loan agreement worth $100 million and EGP 1.2 billion with a six-bank consortium led by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE).
The consortium comprised of Qatar National Bank (QNB), Bank of Alexandria, Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt, Suez Canal Bank, and United Bank, according to the company’s statement on Saturday.
The loan will be used to finance the purchasing, building, operating processes of the company’s project in west Minya governorate over six months until the completion of the long-term $700 million loan.
Canal Sugar Co hired Al Ahly Capital Holding as the financial advisor and global coordinator with export credit guarantee agencies and appointed Zaki Hashem & Partners as legal advisor and Helmy, Hamza & Partners as legal advisor for the banking institutions.
The $2 billion project aims to develop the world’s largest beet sugar plant with a capacity of 900,000 tonnes per year.
The project also aims to develop and reclaim 181,000 acres (feddans) of desert land west Minya governorates using underground water for producing 2 million tonnes of beet sugar annually as well as other strategic crops such as wheat and maize.
It is worth noting that Al Ghurair Group’s Canal Sugar Co. and Al Ahly Capital Holding hold 33% and 27% stakes in the project, respectively.
