EGA finances US acquisition with green loan facility
DUBAI, 13 hours, 27 minutes ago
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has said its recent majority stake buy in American aluminium recycling firm, Spectro Alloys Corporation, has now been funded through a green loan facility with international banks.
The green loan facility enables access to a larger liquidity pool to fund low-carbon projects while optimising the cost of borrowing.
EGA, the largest ‘premium aluminium’ producer in the world, completed the acquisition of 80% of Spectro Alloys in September 2024. Spectro Alloys is a leading secondary foundry alloy producer in Rosemount, Minnesota. The company has a production capacity of around 110 thousand tonnes per year of aluminium ingots.
Aluminium recycling
The acquisition accelerated EGA’s global expansion into aluminium recycling and expanded EGA’s business in the US, which is already one of EGA’s largest global markets.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “Aluminium demand is expected to grow worldwide by up to 80% by 2050. Recycled and low-carbon primary aluminium are expected to account for around 60% of supply growth between now and 2030. Developing low-carbon projects, including a global business in recycling, is a key strategic priority for EGA to capitalise on market growth opportunities. The green loan facility to fund our acquisition of Spectro Alloys enables us to access a deeper pool of liquidity to finance projects that contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
Citi, ING and Standard Chartered acted as joint Green Loan Coordinators on the financing.
Green Finance Framework
In June 2024, EGA published its Green Finance Framework to support decarbonisation projects and revealed the first green loan facility to fund the acquisition of European speciality foundry, Leichtmetall.
EGA was among the first in the region to open sustainable corporate bank accounts in 2022, which ensure cash balances are used to finance or refinance sustainability initiatives elsewhere in the economy. Over the past three years, EGA has deposited some $180 million in total in these accounts, maintaining an average cash balance of $25.5 million.--TradeArabia News Service