The Saudi Egyptian Construction Company (SECON) signed a long-term joint funding contract with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr (BM) for provision of EGP 507.2m Wednesday, bringing the total value of loans provided for the SECON Nile Towers project to EGP 600m. According to Saudi Assistant Minister of Finance and Chairman of SECON Mohammed Bin Hamoud Al-Mezyad, the Saudi Arabian kingdom intends to increase its investments in the company, which stands as a successful model of the partnership between the Saudi and Egyptian governments. Deputy Minister of Housing and Vice Chairman of SECON Mohamed Essam El-Deen said the Egyptian government intends to support and develop the company's investments and conduct its expansion plans. SECON acquired a bridging loan worth EGP 92.8 from NBE and BM in 2013 to fund SECON Nile Towers project, Vice Chairman Darwish Hassanein said. With the new contract, SECON has acquired an additional EGP 507.2m, to make the total value of the loan amount to EGP 600m. According to Hassanein, the loan is equally divided between the two banks and will be repaid over five years, after a grace period of one year. The loan will be used to fund part of the project's remaining work, which is estimated to cost approximately EGP 1.8bn. SECON intends to fund the rest of the project through its sales revenue and the own capital.
