Bahrain's Alba gets loan for $169m bond

Aluminium Bahrain, or Alba, which owns the world's fourth-largest aluminium smelter, said on Sunday it received two loans from banks to refinance a US$169m bond maturing in March 2013.

Alba, 69 percent owned by Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and 20 percent by the Saudi government, said it obtained a five-year US$85m loan from Bahrain's Gulf International Bank according to a statement on the Bahrain bourse.

The company also received a three-year US$84m loan from a group of banks including Ahli United Bank, National Bank of Bahrain, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait and Arab Banking Corporation.

Alba earlier in December said it had hired Bechtel Canada to conduct a feasibility study for its proposed US$2.5bn expansion plan to add a sixth production line.

The new line - which will add 400,000 tonnes annual capacity to its current production of 881,000 tonnes a year - could be completed by early 2015.