Italy’s export credit agency (ECA) Sace has finalised the details of a funding deal to finance the expansion of Egypt’s 6 October power plant in the Giza district of Cairo.

The agency is guaranteeing a €210m ($261m) loan, arranged by a group of banks led by the UK’s HSBC, to fund a contract awarded to Italy’s Ansaldo Energia by Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC).

The funding was finalised during a meeting with President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in Rome on 25 November. A collaboration agreement between Sace and the Egyptian government to support further trade and investment was also signed during the meetings.

Ansaldo Energia has been contracted to design, build and commission a new 600MW open-cycle power plant that will double the facility’s power generation capacity.