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Jeddah, 09 April, 2012: The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, signed a US$180 million syndicated structured Murabaha Agreement with Societe Anonyme Marocaine de l’Industrie du Raffinage (SAMIR) in Morocco, for the import of crude oil and petroleum products. The agreement was signed by Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, Acting CEO of ITFC and Eng. Jamal Ba’amer, General Manager of SAMIR in the presence of H.E El-Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi, Chairman of the Board of SAMIR.
The signing ceremony, which took place in the IDB Headquarters in Jeddah, witnessed the attendance of Eng. Nasser Al-Thekair, Assistant GM of the Corporate & Structured Finance and Eng. Mourad Bouzrouri, Corporate and Structured Finance Manager in Charge of Morocco from ITFC, along with Jamal Benaddou Idrissi, Finance & Treasury Director and Ahmed Harnouch, Strategy & Coordination Director from SAMIR and other representatives from both entities.
On this occasion, Eng. Hani Sonbol emphasized on the historic relationship between the two institutions saying, “In the past years, ITFC had worked towards developing trade finance products, tailor-made to meet the needs of our member countries”. He went on to add, “Today, we are celebrating the signing of the first structured trade finance agreement in favor of the Moroccan public sector. The ITFC will exert its efforts to consolidate its presence in the Moroccan market by providing integrated trade finance solutions, for both the public and private sectors.”
From his part, Eng. Ba’amer praised the active role played by the IDB Group and specifically the ITFC in their support of the strategic sectors, he then added, “The company covers more than 70% of the needs of petroleum products in Morocco, this is according to a strategic plan developed by the company, which also includes building an integrated industrial complex with the expansion of its refinery. Over US$2.3 million have been invested in this project in order to increase the total energy capacity of the refinery to 10 million tons. This agreement is a milestone in providing the growing needs of the imports of crude oil for SAMIR. “
It is worth to mention that the cooperation between the two institutions started since 1977 when ITFC was a Trade Finance and Promotion Department in IDB, with total trade finance approvals in favor of Morocco exceeds US$ 3 Billion.
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