EGA Finances US Acquisition With Green Loan Facility

(MENAFN- Mid-East Info) United Arab Emirates, December 2024: Emirates United Arab Emirates, 26 December 2024: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest 'premium aluminium' producer in the world, today announced that its recent Acquisition of a majority stake in American aluminium recycling firm, Spectro Alloys Corporation, has now been funded through a green loan facility with international banks. The green loan facility enables access to a larger liquidity pool to fund low-carbon projects while optimising the cost of borrowing. EGA completed the acquisition of 80 per cent of Spectro Alloys in September 2024. Spectro Alloys is a leading secondary foundry alloy producer in Rosemount, Minnesota. The company has a production capacity of around 110 thousand tonnes per year of aluminium ingots. The acquisition accelerated EGA's global expansion into aluminium recycling and expanded EGA's business in the United States, which is already one of EGA's largest global markets. Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said:“Aluminium demand is expected to grow worldwide by up to 80 per cent by 2050. Recycled and low-carbon primary aluminium are expected to account for around 60 per cent of supply growth between now and 2030. Developing low-carbon projects, including a global business in recycling, is a key strategic priority for EGA to capitalise on market growth opportunities. The green loan facility to fund our 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.” Citi, ING and Standard Chartered acted as joint Green Loan Coordinators on the financing. In June 2024, EGA published its Green Finance Framework to support decarbonisation projects and revealed the first green loan facility to fund the acquisition of European speciality foundry, Leichtmetall. EGA was among the first in the region to open sustainable corporate bank accounts in 2022, which ensure cash balances are used to finance or refinance sustainability initiatives elsewhere in the economy. Over the past three years, EGA has deposited some $180 million in total in these accounts, maintaining an average cash balance of $25.5 million. About EGA: Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible. Today EGA is the world's biggest 'premium aluminium' producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry. EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates. EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations on four continents from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium and recycling. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah in the United Arab Emirates, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah, a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea, a speciality foundry in high strength recycled aluminium in Germany, and a recycling plant in the United States. EGA's aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2023, EGA sold 2.75 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world. EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2023, value-added products accounted for 76 per cent of EGA's cast metal sales. EGA's aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries. Around 10 per cent of EGA's aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA's aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports more than 57,000 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including more than 1,200 UAE Nationals. EGA has focused on technology development for over 30 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally. As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world's leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA's Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA's Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. EGA's bauxite mining subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation, achieved the first ASI certification in Guinea in 2023. Al Taweelah alumina refinery was certified later in 2023. EGA's German speciality foundry was certified in 2023, before its acquisition by EGA. In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun. EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium. EGA's Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall. EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA's Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres. EGA has its own power stations at both sites in the UAE, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA's electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants. EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA's alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE's dependence on imported alumina and supplies over 48 per cent of EGA's needs. Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA's wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.

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