Columbus

completed

_x000C_Columbus is a South African stainless steel producer, and a subsidiary of Acerinox S.A. (or the sponsor), a Spanish stainless steel manufacturer, which has a 76% shareholding. Columbus operates an integrated stainless steel plant in Middelburg, Mpumalanga province, producing hot and cold rolled products. The plant has an electric arc furnace (EAF) with a liquid metal capacity of 850,000 tons per annum (tpa), and hot-rolling and cold-rolling mill capacities of 70,000 tons per month (tpm) and 36,000 tpm, respectively. Columbus is expanding its cold-rolling mill capacity by 25% to 45,000 tpm to enable it to process more of its current excess hot-rolled coils, by installing a new mill (ZM4) designed for thin gauge, bright anneal quality stainless steel cold rolled coil and installing a degreasing section on the final annealing and pickling line for improved surface quality of the cold rolled coils. The project is estimated to cost approximately $100.6 million. The sponsor has requested IFC to provide an A loan of up to $50 million to complement the company’s financial plan, which includes internal cash generation.