The Egyptian Refining Company has completed the financing for the $3.7bn Mostorod refinery after signing the $2.6bn debt package for the scheme.

The deal is one of the largest ever project finance deals in Africa. The loans are split between $2.35bn of senior debt, and $225m of subordinated debt, meaning it is repaid last. The subordinated debt is provided by Japan’s Mitsui & Co, contractor on the refinery and the Ivory Coast-based African Development Bank (AFDB).

The refinery will produce over 4 million tonnes of refined products a year when it is completed in 2015, which will be sold to Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) under a 25-year offtake agreement.

The equity of the project is split between the local Citadel Capital, EPGC and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a division of the Washington-based World Bank.

The deal was oversubscribed in late June and banks have been working on completing the project documentation since then. The first drawdown of the loans is expected in the third quarter of the year.

The $2.35bn debt is split into several tranches, including direct export credit agency (ECA) loans and loans from government institutions of:

• $540 million from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) (Japan)
• $620m from Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) (South Korea)
• $$450m from European Investment Bank (EIB) (Luxembourg)
• $200m from African Development Bank

There are also ECA guaranteed loans of:

• $180m from Kexim
• $360m from Japan’s Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (Nexi)
• $475m from EIB

Banks financing the deal include Egypt’s Commercial International Bank, the UK’s HSBC and Standard Chartered, France’s Societe Generale, Germany’s WestLB and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.

Financial close is expected to occur in mid-September. Societe Generale acted as financial adviser on the deal.

According to MEED’s sister title, Infrastructure Journal, the full list of lending banks on the deal is:

• Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi
• WestLB
• HSBC
• Standard Chartered
• Societe Generale
• Credit Agricole CIB
• Commercial International Bank
• Sumitomo Trust
• Ahli United Bank
• Banco Espirito Santo
• KBC
• KfW IPEX-Bank