Orascom Development Egypt announced on Wednesday that it has secured $355 million in syndicated bank financing to support its “O West” project in Sixth of October City and accelerate its development work.
Bank Misr and Commercial International Bank are each providing financing worth 7 billion Egyptian pounds (approximately $138 million), while the National Bank of Egypt is contributing 4 billion Egyptian pounds (approximately $79 million).
The company's CEO, Iskandar Ta'ma, said that the financing represents a strategic step to enhance the company's investment plans in the project, which is located on an area of one thousand acres, noting that the new liquidity will contribute to accelerating implementation and completing the various stages of development.
He added, in statements to Reuters, that the company had previously withdrawn about 6 billion pounds as part of an agreement with the Commercial International Bank before it joined the financing banking consortium.
Ta'ma emphasized that the Egyptian real estate market possesses strong fundamentals, supported by continuous growth and government investments in infrastructure, roads, and transportation, which bolsters the activity of real estate developers. He pointed out that the real estate sector has become a strategic sector for the Egyptian economy and provides millions of job opportunities. He also explained that the company has completed approximately 25% of the project's development.
For his part, Karim Al-Ramali, Head of the Bonds and Syndicated Loans Group at Commercial International Bank, said that the financing extends for ten years and is consistent with the project’s timeline and expected cash flows, stressing the banks’ continued interest in financing the real estate sector despite the increased volume of financing required as a result of rising construction costs and unit prices.
