Agha Steel Industries Limited and Italy’s Danieli Group signed an agreement announcing the construction of Asia’s first Endless Steel Technology Mi.Da. Plant with DRB (Direct Rolling & Bundling) in Karachi. Danieli Group will be looking after end-to-end technical consultancy for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) of the Project.  His Excellency Stefano Pontecorvo, Ambassador of Italy to Pakistan, was the Chief Guest.

The agreement signing was the highlight of the Sinergia 2018, an industry event, hosted by Agha Steel Industries Limited.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Hussain Agha, CEO, Agha Steel reiterated the company’s commitment to excellence through investing in latest technologies. “In order to be globally competitive, we recognize the need for investment in technology. The DRB plant will create a strong pan-Asian steel company that is structurally robust and at par with competitors, regionally and globally. Agha Steel is the fastest growing steel company of Pakistan with a strong focus on performance, quality and technological leadership. With this significant milestone, our steel production capacity will increase to 650,000 tons from 150,000 tons per year. This was made possible through issuance of Pakistan’s 1^st OTC Listed Sukuk Issue, Priced through a Competitive Bidding process by Agha Steel.  We would like to welcome our SukuK participants and acknowledge their support in realizing our vision specially Habib Bank Limited & Bank AL Habib Limited for their continuous support & management of the process” Agha concluded.

Earlier this year, ASIL raised around five billion rupees through a local Islamic Sukuk bond to propel its production to meet costs associated with balancing, modernisation and replacement activities for existing and new facilities.

On this occasion, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President and CEO of HBL said that HBL is delighted to be Agha Steel’s partner in progress and said that ‘’projects like these does not only pave the way for the steel industry but also play a key role in improving the socio-economic conditions of Pakistan’’. He further added that ‘’the innovative structure of the Sukuk was designed keeping in view Agha Steel’s vision of getting listed on the equity bourse in future and the high subscription of Sukuk coupled with efficient pricing is a testament to investors’ confidence in Agha Steel and HBL’’.

Earlier, His Excellency Stefano Pontecorvo, Ambassador, highlighted the deep rooted business ties between Italy and Pakistan. He expressed his gratitude to Agha Steel for partnering with Danieli for yet another milestone and extended his best wishes for a successful implementation of MiDa & DRB plant.

This project would reduce power consumption by 300KWh/MT against existing steel production practices of Pakistan, which will save power consumption of 150 Million KWh per annum and will help lessen Pakistan’s current energy crises. Moreover, the project would save Pakistan’s national exchequer 50 billion rupees per annum through import substitution and further uplifting the domestic steel industry.