IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is arranging a $30 million syndicated loan to a leading Dubai-based water and wastewater treatment company to help expand essential services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Asia.
The investment, with Bank of China, will help Metito as it develops water treatment projects across the MENA region and parts of Asia. Metito is headquartered in Dubai and is active throughout the MENA region, Indonesia, and China. The company also owns and operates six wastewater treatment plants in China, with four more projects under construction.
Rami Ghandour, Metito Managing Director commented:
“With support from IFC and Bank of China, we will be able to embark on new projects, providing quality water treatment solutions in water scarce areas.”
Metito is already a leading provider of intelligent water management solutions in emerging markets, with operations covering three business areas: design and build, specialty chemicals, and utilities. With over 50 years of operational experience and 2,500+ employees, the group provides customized, comprehensive and advanced solutions across the industry. Metito’s current global project portfolio is in excess of $1 billion.
In June 2013, IFC provided $50 million in loans to Metito and arranged another $20 million from the German development finance institution, DEG, to strengthen the company’s capital structure and support its expansion.
“This partnership demonstrates the potential for infrastructure investment in MENA, one of the most water scarce regions in the world,” said Mouayed Makhlouf, IFC Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Water scarcity is a global concern and IFC will continue to help boost water efficiency to meet the growing demand.”
The investment is part of IFC’s wider efforts to help companies expand into emerging markets, to transfer knowledge and expertise and improve access to essential infrastructure. Metito is the first company to obtain long-term financing from Bank of China as part of the IFC B Loan program, a syndicated loan structure that introduces new banking relationships to the borrower.
A member of the World Bank Group, IFC is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. In FY13, its investments climbed to an all-time high of nearly $25 billion.
Bank of China Middle East (Dubai) Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of China Limited, operating throughout the MENA region. Established in February 1912, Bank of China ranked eleventh in terms of core capital among the World Top 100 Banks in the British magazine The Banker in 2009 and is the only developing world institution included on the list of 29 global systemically important banks approved by the G20 summit.
“Access to water is a fundamental challenge to economic development and growth,” said Chunyan Cai, SEO of Bank of China Middle East (Dubai) Limited, covering the MENA area. “With this long-term investment, which is hard to obtain in challenging markets, Bank of China will help support Metito as a leading provider of essential water and wastewater management solutions in water stressed regions.”
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