Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Bahrain-based aluminium smelter, has successfully closed the first part of the second tranche of €204.5 million ($247.01 million) Export Credit Agency (ECA) covered financing facilities.

It will finance the green anode plant, gas treatment centres, pot tending machines and anode bake furnace as well as related equipment for Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project, said a statement.

The facilities are made-up of: €156.9 million ($189.4 million) Bpifrance Assurance Export (BpiAE) supported facility with an interest margin of 60 basis point per annum over Euribor– the BpiAE-covered facility has 11-year tenor wherein the principal amount is to be repaid over 10-year period; €47.6 million ($57.48 million) Euler Hermes guaranteed Export Credit with an interest margin of 55 basis point per annum over Euribor– the Euler Hermes-covered facility has 11-year tenor wherein the principal amount is to be repaid over 10-year period, it said.

Alba’s chairman of board of directors Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said: “We are extremely pleased with the support received from our banking partners in the ECA-covered facilities.”

“Their commitment is a vote of confidence in Bahrain, Alba and its landmark project – Line 6 Expansion Project,” he said.

“We also look forward to secure the final part of 2nd ECA-tranche as we progress with the construction of Line 6 Expansion Project,” he added.

The participating banks acting as the Mandated Lead Arrangers in the BpiAE-covered facility consist of Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank wherein Standard Chartered Bank acted as the Facility Agent for BpiAE; with respect to Euler Hermes-covered facility, the Mandated Lead Arranger is Commerzbank, and Commerzbank AG also acted as the Facility Agent for Euler Hermes-covered facilities.

Alba successfully closed a $1.5 billion syndicated term-loan facility comprising two tranches: Conventional Facility & and Islamic Facility in October 2016, and as well as the first tranche of the Export Credit Financing of $700 million for Euler Hermes and SERV-covered facilities in July 2017, it stated. - TradeArabia News Service