By Asmaa Nabil
A coalition of the Indonesian company Multistrada and the Transport and Engineering Company, a subsidiary of the Chemical Industries Holding Company (CIHC), are studying a plan to build an automobile frame factory financed by Misr Financial Investments. The factory will produce three million automobile frames per year.
Amr Nashaat, the official spokesman for Multistrada in Cairo, said that the parties will sign a final agreement next September. Next week a delegation comprising of representatives from the Transport and Engineering Company and Banque Misr will visit Indonesia to observe a Mulstistrada factory. The Indonesian company is one of the most prominent manufacturers of automobile frames.
Nashaat noted that BanqueMisr will be the primary contributor of funds for the programme but that no final agreement had yet been reached.
He said that there were a number of initial contracts for the factory with countries that benefit from customs exceptions in Egypt, remarking that European countries are the target market for the new factory.
Multistrada signed a memorandum of understanding last November with the Transport and Engineering Company to implement the project, which will cost approximately EGP 1.85billion. The two parties agreed last month that Multistrada will have a 60% stake with Transport and Engineering Company holding 40%.
The project is the first step in the Transport and Engineering Company’s goal to regain its formerly prominent position in the automobile frame manufacturing industry. The company was recently restructured and a settlement was reached for the nearly EGP 800 million in debts to public banks.
