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Emirates Steel signs $1.1b deal to fund expansion

ABU DHABI — The Emirates Steel has signed a $1.1 billion, seven-year project financing agreement with a consortium of nine banks including two
Islamic lenders.

The largest integrated steel producer in the UAE, which is a unit managed by the Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation (ADBIC), a wholly-owned company General Holding Corporation (GHC), an Abu Dhabi Government-owned company, which will use the funds to carry-out its on-going expansion drive.

The steel maker, which has a production capacity of two million metric tonnes per annum, is in process of adding another one million metric tonnes capacity to reach three million metric tonnes level, in 2011 through its Dh9 billion expansion plan.

The project finance was raised through a $367 million Islamic facility and a $733 million conventional facility, each of seven-year tenor.

The conventional banks consortium consists of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Union National Bank, First Gulf Bank, Bank of Baroda, Arab Banking Corporation, Al Khaliji France and Al Khalij Commercial Bank (Al Khaliji).

The two Islamic finance institutions are the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Al Hilal Bank.

Natixis acted as financial advisor and Denton Wilde Sapte as legal counsel on this transaction.

Steel maker announced in July its finished products output surged 45.4 per cent in first half. With rise in construction activity, the Company recorded 30 per cent growth in sales, when compared with the same period a
 year earlier.The Abu Dhabi-based company said production of rebar grew by 26 per cent during the first half of the year, compared to the first six months of the previous year; while the output of wire rod went up by a significant 
283 per cent.

The transaction conclusion announcement comes as early this month, the Emirates Steel hinted it is working on a large scale financing to the tune of $2.2 billion to fund its expansion.

Last month, the steel producer achieved a financial close on a $500 million export credit facility which was raised by its parent company General Holding Company and insured by SACE, an Italian group that operates in the field of export credit, credit insurance and investment protection.

Located in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD), 35 kilometres away from the city, Emirates Steel is the only integrated steel plant in the UAE, utilizing the latest steel manufacturing and rolling technology to produce reinforcing bar and wire rod.

The company say the many strategic alliances that it has established with leading technology providers, coupled with its state-of-the-art facilities, will enable it to maintain its position at the forefront of Abu Dhabi’s industrial sector. —haseeb@khaleejtimes.com