Tuesday, December 21 2004 19:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) and Deutsche Bank AG signed a EUR 116.2 million financing which will be used to refinance the import of equipment for the expansion of Reliance's Polyester facilities at Hazira and Patalganga.

This expansion of the Company's polyester capacities will further consolidate Reliance's position as the largest polyester manufacturer in the world.

The financing was solely arranged by Deutsche Bank and consists of two facilities.

A EUR 103.5 million facility with a tenor of 10.5 years which is covered by Euler Hermes Kreditversicherungs-AG, Hamburg, (Euler Hermes) representing the Federal Republic of Germany. This represents the financing against the imports from two German companies, Barmag Zweigniederlassung der Saurer GmbH & Co. KG, Remscheid and Zimmer AG, Frankfurt am Main.

A EUR 12.7 million facility with a tenor of nine years which is covered by SACE S.p.A., the export credit agency of Italy. This facility covers the supplies by the Italian company, Salmoiraghi S.p.A, Monza.

This financing marks the first time in 22 years that Reliance Industries Ltd. has availed of an ECA covered facility. It also represents the longest tenor of financing raised by RIL (door-to-door maturity of nearly 11 years) since the issuance of the long tenor bonds in the overseas debt capital markets since 1996-97.