Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has closed the first tranche of c. $700 million Export Credit Agency (ECA) covered facilities to finance the company’s Power Station 5 and Power Distribution System as part of the Line 6 expansion project.

The facilities are made up of $310.4 million SERV Guaranteed Export Credit with an interest margin of 90 basis point per annum over the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR); EUR314.3 million ($358 million) SERV Guaranteed Export Credit with an interest margin of 65 basis point per annum over the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR);  and EUR50 million Euler Hermes Guaranteed Export Credit with an interest margin of 55 basis point per annum over EURIBOR. The SERV-covered facilities have a 15-year tenor wherein the principal amount is to be repaid over 12-year period. The Euler Hermes-covered facility has 14-year tenor wherein the principal amount is to be repaid over a 12-year period.

Alba’s chairman Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said: “Closing successfully the first tranche of the ECA-backed facilities for Power Station 5 and Power Distribution System is another unprecedented milestone towards satisfying the full funding of our project.

“We look forward to secure the second tranche of the ECAs in order to accelerate the rapid growth of Alba with its brownfield Line 6 Expansion Project.”

The participating banks acting as the Mandated Lead Arrangers in the ECA-covered facilities consist of Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Citibank, Commerzbank AG, JPMorgan Chase Bank and Standard Chartered Bank (HK). Commerzbank AG acted as the facility agent for both SERV and Euler Hermes covered facilities.

Expected to start metal production in early 2019, Line 6 Expansion Project will boost the per-annum production by 540,000 metric tonnes upon its full ramp-up, bringing Alba’s total production capacity to 1,500,000 metric tonnes per annum to make Alba the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelter. – TradeArabia News Service