Citadel Capital signs cement deal in Egypt
A cement making unit of Cairo-based Citadel Capital signed a E£1.1bn (US$193.2m) loan to finance the construction of a cement plant, Egyptian newspapers reported on Sunday.
Al-Arabiya al-Wataniya (ANCC) is a division of Citadel’s cement unit ASEC, which aims to double its cement output in the Middle East and North Africa to about 12Mt by 2013 to tap increased housing and infrastructure demand.
Arab African International Bank (AAIB) is providing E£312m of the loan, which involves six other banks including Bank of Alexandria, Bank Audi, the National Bank of Greece and Faisal Islamic Bank, financial daily al-Mal and al-Akhbar newspaper reported.
The nine-year loan will cover about 52 per cent of the investment to build the 1.6 million tonne-per-year plant in the southern Egyptian province of Minya, with the company providing the rest from its own funds, according to al-Shorouk newspaper.
ANCC secured a licence to build the plant in 2007.
Published under Cement News
