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$50 mln to fund export of Russian cargo planes
Loan is EBRD’s first financing for aircraft manufacturing sector
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is extending a five-year, $50 million revolving facility to finance the export of Russian-made Tupolev cargo aircraft. The first orders are from two Chinese airlines for what is the world’s fastest growing aviation market.
The transaction breaks new ground for the Bank, marking its entry into the financing of aircraft manufacturing and giving a boost to a Russian high-tech sector capable of delivering sophisticated but competitively-priced planes to markets in the Pacific Rim, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, said Noreen Doyle, the EBRD’s First Vice President.
Given the huge investments made during the Soviet era in this sector, the Bank is keen to help Russia re-build a competitive industry that can integrate into the global aviation economy, Ms Doyle added at a loan-signing ceremony in London.
The EBRD facility will initially finance the export of five Tu204-120Cs, the westernised cargo version of the most technically advanced civil aircraft developed in the former Soviet Union, with fly-by-wire technology and a high-performance wing that enhances stability and maneuverability at all speeds.
The aircraft, which are the result of a major Egyptian investment in the Russian aircraft industry, will be powered by Rolls Royce RB211-535E4B engines.
The first five planes are being built at the Aviastar aircraft manufacturing facility at Ulyanovsk in Russia’s Volga region, the most modern and largest assembly plant built in the former Soviet Union. They can carry up to 30 tonnes of freight and have a 3,500 km range.
The planes have been ordered by China’s national flag carrier Air China and the privatised China Eastern airline. The two companies, together with CASC (China Aviation and Supplies Import and Export Corp.), have taken an option on the delivery of 10 more such aircraft.
The borrower is Sirocco Aerospace Russia, controlled by Egypt’s Sirocco Aerospace International. The Egyptian investors hold a stake of 25 per cent minus one share in the Aviastar production facility and an additional interest in the Tupolev Design Bureau, responsible for creating some of the most famous aircraft in Soviet history since it was set up in 1922.
Sirocco has invested heavily in the Russian aviation industry and we welcome the EBRD’s help in restoring to their rightful market share aircraft that are fully capable of competing with their US and European competitors, especially in developing countries that are looking for quality at an affordable price, said Dr Ibrahim Kamel, the Sirocco group’s main shareholder.
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