Afreximbank closes $525m syndicated loan to improve Egyptian power pool

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says it has secured a $525-million five-year syndicated loan to the Egyptian Electricity Company to improve the country’s energy and power pool.

In a statement on Wednesday in Lagos, the bank said the facility was to import gas turbines and other related equipment, supplied by General Electric, Canada in the context of Egypt’s Emergency Power Plan.

Afreximbank, which served as the mandated lead arranger and original lender, said that the facility, granted under its Export Credit Agencies Loans Facilitation Programme, closed on Oct. 6.

According to the bank, eight Egyptian and Gulf banks participated in the programme.

Dr Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, named the banks as National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Commercial International Bank,
Arab-African International Bank, Audi Bank, Alex Bank, Arab Banking Corporation and Egyptian Gulf Bank.

Oramah said the facility was part of the bank’s commitment to pooling resources for large-scale infrastructure projects in Africa.

“This facility brings our support to the Egyptian economy to more than $1.9 billion of aggregate financing since the inception of the bank in 1993,” he said.

Afreximbank is the foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.

The bank was established in October, 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors.

Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organisation and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations.