EGA opts for green loan facility to buy Spectro stake

Emirates Global Aluminium, the UAE’s biggest non-oil industrial company and one of the world’s largest aluminium producers, has used a green loan facility from global banks to buy an 80 percent stake in US-based Spectro Alloys Corporation.

The green credit facility enables access to a larger liquidity pool to fund low-carbon projects and optimises borrowing costs.

No details were given on the size and terms of the green facility.

Spectro Alloys is a secondary foundry alloy producer in the US, with a production capacity of 110,000 tonnes per year of aluminium ingots.

The acquisition has accelerated EGA’s global expansion into aluminium recycling and expanded its business in the US, which is already one of its largest international markets.

• Emirates Global Aluminium buys German recycling business
• EU carbon tariff opens door to green GCC manufacturers
• Qatari aluminium maker defies market challenges

CEO Abdulnasser bin Kalban said the green loan facility to fund its 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”.

Aluminium demand is expected to grow worldwide by up to 80 percent by 2050, he said. Recycled and low-carbon primary aluminium are forecast to account for 60 percent of supply growth between now and 2030.

Citi, ING and Standard Chartered acted as joint green loan coordinators.

In June EGA published its green finance framework to support decarbonisation projects and revealed its first green loan facility to fund the acquisition of Leichtmetall, a European speciality foundry.