Egypt's Carbon Holding eyes $4 bln loan by for petchem project

Egypt's Carbon Holdings hopes to conclude a $4 billion debt financing with export credit agencies to back its $7.4 billion Tahrir Petrochemicals project by the end of this year, its chief executive said on Monday.

One of the biggest petrochemical projects ever in Egypt, it will be situated at the southern end of the Suez Canal at Ain Sokhna. The scheme will comprise a 4 million tonnes per annum naphtha cracker and petrochemical plant, according to Project Finance International, a Thomson Reuters unit.

The 17-year debt facility is being provided by five organisations, Basil El-Baz, Carbon Holdings' chief executive, told reporters on the sidelines of a press event in Abu Dhabi.

They are the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Export-Import Bank of Korea, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, Sace of Italy and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation.