Kingdom of Bahrain / Credit Line for Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C.

Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI, Chairman and CEO: Kazuhiko Bando) has approved a credit line for Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (hereinafter “Alba”) in the Kingdom of Bahrain (“Bahrain”) to support its purchase of Japanese goods and services related to its Line 6 Expansion Project.

NEXI will cover the co-financing portion (up to EUR 45 million) provided by Tokyo branch of BNP Paribas (“BNPP”), which is a part of the credit line¹ (up to EUR 90 million) set up between Japan Bank for International Cooperation, BNPP and Alba on October 31, 2018.

Alba is an aluminium smelting company with the longest business history in the Middle East. Also, the aluminium industry is considered as an area of strategic importance under the current Bahraini policy geared toward developing non-oil and export industries, high-value-added businesses for reducing dependence on oil. This Expansion Project will make Alba the world’s largest aluminium smelter upon its completion, with a new production line, bringing its total production capacity to 1.5 million metric tons per year. NEXI will cover the loan for purchasing rectifiers and ancillary equipment from Fuji Electric Co., Ltd., and cathode blocks manufactured by SEC Carbon Limited from Sumitomo Corporation.

This brownfield project is also financed by several ECAs from various countries, such as Euler Hermes, SERV and Bpifrance.

Through this credit line, NEXI promotes Japanese entities’ exports and sales, and consequently contributes to improving their international competitiveness. As Japan’s policy-based financial institution, NEXI will continue to actively support Japanese companies’ exporting business.

Contact: Natural Resources Group Ⅱ, Structured and Trade Finance Insurance Dept.
Tel: +81-(0)3-3512-7744

¹ Export credit line is a form of export financing in which a certain amount of credit limit is set up to promote export of Japanese goods and equipment.