Bahraini banks sign $480m deal to finance new terminal

Ahli United Bank (AUB), Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) and DIPCO closed the deal within eight weeks. AUB will handle the port's local banking requirements through its subsidiary, AUB Egypt. "AUB and ABC have consistently proven that they have both the capability and network to successfully underwrite the most specialised and extensive of infrastructure projects," said Mohammed Al Mazeedi, chairman and managing director, Dipco, and chairman and CEO of KGL Ports International Company, in Kuwait.

Dipco, an international consortium led Kuwait's KGL subsidiary KGL PI, said in a Press statement that the finance facility will be syndicated in the coming weeks to a select group of Egyptian, regional and international banks.

It added that the terminal, to be built at the Port of Damietta, would be the largest of its kind in the Middle East.

Earlier, Dipco was awarded a 40-year concession by Damietta Port Authority to construct, develop and operate a container terminal set for completion by 2009.

The new terminal is part of Dipco's move to transform the port into a major transshipment hub in the entire eastern Mediterranean. It is 70 kilometres west of Suez Canal's Mediterranean entrance and has links to the world's busiest trade routes. The statement said that with a draft of 16.5 metres the new terminal could help lower operating costs and sailing time for transshipment, as it would be able to handle some of the largest containers around.