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Thursday, 23 September 2021

CIRA to borrow EGP 260 mn to fund capex

CIRA will borrow EGP 260 mn from an undisclosed Egyptian bank to fund upcoming projects, it announced in a bourse filing (pdf) yesterday after the board greenlit the decision. The statement doesn’t provide further information and a company spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

What we know about the CIRA’s borrowing plans: The company has been in talks with a syndicate of international banks to obtain financing for its planned applied tech university, negotiating with three banks for a credit facility that would cover 40-50% of the EGP 2 bn project.

The education company and its subsidiary Eduhive are eyeing major expansion: CIRA will invest EGP 500 mn to set up four language schools in Qena, New Assiut, New Rashid and El Alamein by 2022. It expects to launch Egypt’s first private sector technical college in September 2023, while Cairo Egypt for Education (CEE) — a JV between CIRA and Elsewedy Capital Holding — is planning to build and run a EGP 2.5 bn university on a 58-feddan plot in New Damietta.

IN OTHER CIRA NEWS- The company will distribute EGP 100 mn in dividends to shareholders for the fiscal year 2019-20, paying out around EGP 0.17 per share, the company said in a separate disclosure (pdf) to the EGX yesterday.

MEANWHILE- State banks to lend EUR 152 mn to Wotech for green MDF factory: Banque du Caire, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr will lend EUR 152 mn to state-owned woodmaker Wotech to establish a factory producing MDF wood from rice straw, NBE said in a statement (pdf). The project aims to reduce air pollution caused by the burning of rice straw, a widespread agricultural practice at the end of the harvest season.

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