Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy Advised On Landmark EGP 5 Billion Syndicated Loan To NERIC

Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy Advised on Landmark EGP 5 Billion Syndicated Loan to NERIC

Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy (MBH) has acted as legal counsel to a syndicate of banks comprising the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Commercial International Bank (CIB Egypt), and Arab African International Bank (AAIB) on a syndicated loan of EGP 5 billion. The loan was extended to the National Egyptian Railway Industries Company (NERIC) for the development of an industrial rolling stock plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone at East Port Said.

The plant, spanning approximately 300,000 square meters, will be developed in three phases of 100,000 square meters each. The first phase, currently under construction, includes a factory for railway and metro vehicles and is expected to be operational by mid-2025 with an investment of EGP 4.2 billion. Subsequent phases will focus on manufacturing rolling stock for monorails, high-speed trains, and light electric trains, as well as refurbishing older metro and railway cars.

In partnership with Hyundai Rotem of South Korea, the NERIC factory will produce 40 metro trains, comprising 320 new air-conditioned cars for Cairo Metro Lines 2 and 3. Additionally, plans are underway to manufacture and supply 500 railway cars, with a long- term goal of locally producing 1,000 railway cars in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and an international manufacturing company.

The MBH team advising on the transaction was led by Regional Managing Partner and Group Head of Finance & Projects Mahmoud Bassiouny, with support from Counsel Nadia Abdallah and Associate Mai Ali.