EBRD invests in Egyptian copper rod manufacturing

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a $50 million loan to United Metals Company (UMC), a copper rod manufacturer in Egypt.

The Bank’s loan will finance the working capital of UMC, including for importing copper cathodes, which are key to the production of cables.

UMC is a subsidiary of Elsewedy Electric, an Egyptian industrial group that has a strong presence in Africa, Europe and Asia, and is listed on the Egyptian stock exchange in Cairo.

Elsewedy Electric is one of the largest cable and electrical product manufacturers in the Middle East and Africa, with 30 production facilities in 14 different countries.

Copper rod manufacturing is considered an important industry for the Egyptian and regional market, with export markets including Algeria, Ethiopia and Lebanon.

UMC will also benefit from a technical assistance package piloted by the Elsewedy Technical Academy, which will conduct a skills-mapping exercise and help to develop new learning programmes, including technical training courses for women and blue-collar workers.

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EBRD presence in Egypt

The investment for UMC comes amid foreign exchange scarcity in Egypt and rising global commodity prices, including for copper.

Since 2012 the EBRD has invested more than €11 billion ($11.7 billion) across 169 projects in Egypt, with almost 80% of its portfolio in private-sector projects.

Prior to the investment into UMC, the bank announced a sovereign loan of up to €165 million ($17.5 million) to the country, to be on-lent to the state-owned Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), to finance the upgrade and reinforcement of the electricity transmission grid.

Specifically, the loan will be used to finance the upgrade of a 500kV substation in Cairo and the construction of a 200km high-voltage overhead transmission line that will relay 2.1GW of renewable energy from the Gulf of Suez region, where several wind projects are currently under development or construction.

The project will be the first grid investment under a $2 billion investment programme to be implemented by EETC under Egypt’s Nexus Water, Food & Energy (NWFE) initiative.

Expansion and upgrade of the ageing transmission and distribution network is crucial in allowing Egypt to achieve its strategy of having 42% of the electricity generated on peak load come from renewables by 2030.