Egypt to Honor Court-Revoked Steel Licenses for Fees, Issa Says

The Egyptian government has decided to honor four steel production licenses, including two for Ezz Steel, which had been revoked by a court decision, said Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Mahmoud Issa.

Ezz Steel, Tiba Steel and the Egyptian Sponge Iron & Steel Company - Beshay will make payments for the production licenses which have a total value of 1.18 billion pounds ($195 million), he said in an interview in Cairo today. Each of the licenses for Ezz Steel, Egypt’s biggest publicly traded producer of the metal, is valued at 330 million pounds, he said.

The companies will pay 15 percent of the value of the license immediately and the remainder will be paid over 5 years, with a grace period of 18 months, he said.

An Egyptian court had revoked the licenses, saying they had not been awarded legally.