The debt settlement negotiations being conducted by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) with the Arab Company for Special Steel (Arco Steel) for settling the latter’s EGP 1.6 billion debt were frozen due to the workers’ sit-in.
The Company’s workers protest against the board of directors and the managing director, accusing them of wasting public money and appointing people by favoritism. The workers stated that the board of directors refused to comply with the agreement it signed with the syndicate committee and demanded providing an ambulance for the company’s workers as well as cancelling the dismissal of four members of the syndicate committee.
NBE had earlier reached an agreement with the banks and institutions which own Arco Steel over settling its debt in exchange for real estate and in-kind assets as well as paying a debt settlement prepayment, sources said. Sources expected the debt settlement talks to remain frozen until 2013, when all the internal problems are solved.
NBE owns 7% of the company’s capital, a commercial mortgage on the company’s assets and a commercial mortgage on the company’s properties which cover the value of the loan.
The authorized capital of Arco Steel is EGP 800 million and the issued and paid-up capital is EGP 346.1 million divided on 1.7 million shares with par value of EGP 200 per share.
The ownership structure of the Arco Steel is divided as follows: National Investment Bank (19%), Misr Insurance Company (13%), Al-Shark Insurance Company (10%), Metallurgical Industries Holding Co. (9%), Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (8%), National Bank of Egypt (7%), Egyptian Reinsurance Company (7%), Suez Canal Authority (6.5%), Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt (5%) and Arab Investment Company owned by governments of 17 Arab states (7%).
NBE reduced its non-performing loans by EGP 17 billion during four years as they reached EGP 6 billion at the end of June 2012, down from EGP 23 billion at the end of June 2008.
