Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) announced on Sunday the closure of the last installment of the second tranche of Export Credit Agency (ECA) financing for Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project.
Per the firm, the second tranche consists of a ten-year, US$136-million Export Development Canada (EDC) facility and a €90-million (US$102 million) Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)/Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) note. The latter note is broken into two parts, namely a ten-year repayment contract and a six-year repayment contract.
Alba says the proceeds of the ECA direct and guaranteed loans will be put toward purchasing equipment for the Line 6 Expansion Project.
Alba’s Chairman of Board of Directors Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa noted the importance of the event in a press release on the subject.
“This is another concrete highlight for us and a step closer towards transforming our vision into reality with the safe start-up of Line 6.
“We are also truly thankful to receive further support from our banking partners in the ECA supported-facilities.”
The firm closed a US$1.5-billion syndicated term-loan facility in April last year, consisting of an export credit financing tranche totaling US$700 million, and a second export credit financing tranche totaling €204.5 million (US$232.3 million).
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C., or simply Alba, is one of the largest industrial companies in the Middle East and is one of the top 10 largest aluminium producers in the world. Originally incorporated in 1968, the company is based in Bahrain and 84% of its total workforce are Bahraini nationals. It began operations in 1971 with a 120,000 metric ton annual capacity. Modernization bumped the output up to 450,000 metric tons in 1992. In the spring of 2005, Alba opened Line 5, raising output by 860,000 metric tons per year. In 2018 Alba’s smelter produced 1,011,101 metric tons of primary aluminium.