ACS, Abengoa and Sacyr arrange the financing of their first desalinisation plant in Algeria
The first project finance transaction with a local bank in Algeria
01.08.2005
The Spanish groups Abengoa, ACS and Sacyr Vallehermoso entered into a financing agreement with the Banque Nationalle d’Algérie (BNA) yesterday in Algiers, in order to develop the project for the construction of the first of two sea water desalinisation plants that they will operate in Algeria. Once they are completed, the two facilities will be the largest desalinisation plants in Algeria and they will be among those with the highest production capacity in the world, operating by means of the reverse osmosis system.
The investment for the development of the first plant, which will be built in the town of Skikda, in the eastern part of Algeria near the border with Tunisia, amounts to 110 million dollars and it is the first project finance transaction carried out with a local bank in Algeria. The construction works will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In April 2004, the GEIDA consortium, which comprises the companies Befesa and Codesa (both belonging to Abengoa), Cobra-Tedagua (ACS), and Sadyt (Sacyr Vallehermoso), was awarded the construction and exploitation, under a 25-year concession, of the desalinisation plant in Skikda, which by means of reverse osmosis will produce 100,000 cubic metres of drinking water a day and will supply a population of 500,000.
One month later, in May 2004, the same consortium, in which each of the companies holds 25% of the capital, was awarded the construction and exploitation of another desalinisation plant in Oran. The financing process for this second plant, which will have the capacity to produce 150,000 cubic metres of drinking water a day and will supply around 750,000 people, has already started. The company Expansión Exterior, jointly owned by ICEX (the Spanish Foreign Trade Agency) and BBVA, is acting as financial advisor for GEIDA in both operations.
Once the two desalinisation plants, which together represent an investment of 280 million dollars, are in operation, the Spanish consortium will have an installed capacity in Algeria to produce 250,000 square metres a day, enough to furnish drinking water for a population of 1,250,000.
The plant in Skikda, during its 25 years in operation, is scheduled to reap revenues in excess of 540 million dollars from the sale of water, and the plant in Oran could bring in around 800 million. The Algerian government has embarked on an ambitious desalinisation plan to counter the lack of water. Its short-term target is to achieve a desalinisation capacity of one million cubic metres a day.
The investment for the development of the first plant, which will be built in the town of Skikda, in the eastern part of Algeria near the border with Tunisia, amounts to 110 million dollars and it is the first project finance transaction carried out with a local bank in Algeria. The construction works will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In April 2004, the GEIDA consortium, which comprises the companies Befesa and Codesa (both belonging to Abengoa), Cobra-Tedagua (ACS), and Sadyt (Sacyr Vallehermoso), was awarded the construction and exploitation, under a 25-year concession, of the desalinisation plant in Skikda, which by means of reverse osmosis will produce 100,000 cubic metres of drinking water a day and will supply a population of 500,000.
One month later, in May 2004, the same consortium, in which each of the companies holds 25% of the capital, was awarded the construction and exploitation of another desalinisation plant in Oran. The financing process for this second plant, which will have the capacity to produce 150,000 cubic metres of drinking water a day and will supply around 750,000 people, has already started. The company Expansión Exterior, jointly owned by ICEX (the Spanish Foreign Trade Agency) and BBVA, is acting as financial advisor for GEIDA in both operations.
Once the two desalinisation plants, which together represent an investment of 280 million dollars, are in operation, the Spanish consortium will have an installed capacity in Algeria to produce 250,000 square metres a day, enough to furnish drinking water for a population of 1,250,000.
The plant in Skikda, during its 25 years in operation, is scheduled to reap revenues in excess of 540 million dollars from the sale of water, and the plant in Oran could bring in around 800 million. The Algerian government has embarked on an ambitious desalinisation plan to counter the lack of water. Its short-term target is to achieve a desalinisation capacity of one million cubic metres a day.