Orascom Construction Industries Private Placement

completed

This project involves a corporate loan to Orascom Construction Industries (OCI). OCI operates three main business lines: (i) construction providing civil, electrical and mechanical engineering and construction services for major projects in Egypt and the Middle East; (ii) building materials consisting of the manufacture of a wide variety of basic and specialized construction related products, such as cement, manufacture of cement bags and packaging, ready mixed concrete, steel fabrication, aluminum and glass curtain walling, paints and industrial gases; and (c) infrastructure mainly consisting of the development and operation of a new industrial park and adjacent port facilities on the Red Sea. This corporate loan will enable OCI to access scarce long-term financing and provide access to international investors and thus assist in the continued development and expansion plans of the company. For instance the project will allow OCI to make additional investments in the cement business both in Egypt and elsewhere in the region, acquire a gypsum manufacturing plant and continue their Red Sea infrastructure project. IFC has already made a number of investments in OCI including a major investment in 1997 in Egyptian Cement Company (ECC).