Alba reaches Financial Close of c. US$136 million in Export Credit Financing

Manama, Jan. 20 (BNA): Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), on the go to become the world’s largest smelter, is pleased to announce that it has successfully closed by the end of 2018 the final instalment of the 2nd tranche in respect of the financing of Aba’s Line 6 Expansion Project, consisting of c.US$136 million and c. EUR90 million from Export Credit Agency (ECA) supported-facilities. The proceeds from the ECA direct and guaranteed loans are used to finance the provision of equipment in relation to Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project. The facilities are made-up of:c. US$136 million Export Development Canada (“EDC”) supported-facility with a 10-year tenor wherein the principal amount is to be repaid over a 10-year period; and c. EUR90 million Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)/Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) supported-facilities comprising two contract loans, the first of which has a tenor of 10-yearanda principal repayment period of 9.5years, andthe second contract loan having a tenor of6yearswith the principal amount to be repaid over a 5.5-year period. Commenting on this milestone, Alba’s Chairman of Board of Directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said: “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 Mandated Lead Arranger for the EDC covered-facility is Citibank N.A.(Canada Branch), and Citibank N.A. also acted as the Facility Agent for the EDC covered-facility. With respect to the JBIC/NEXI supported-facilities, the Mandated Lead Arranger is BNP Paribas (Tokyo),and BNP Paribas also acted as the Facility Agent for the JBIC/NEXI supported facilities. Alba successfully closed a US$1.5 Billion syndicated term-loan facility comprising two tranches: a Conventional Facility & and an Islamic Facility in October 2016; the first tranche of the Export Credit Financing of c. US$700 million for Euler Hermes and SERV-covered facilities was concluded in July 2017; the first part of 2ndtranche of Export Credit Financing ofc. EUR204.5 million comprising Bpifrance Assurance Export (“BpiAE”) and the Euler Hermes-covered facilities was concluded in April 2018.