ABSTRACT
Financing proved far harder to source than had been expected. In 1973, at the suggestion of Robert Dunlop, the Sudanese and Lonrho began looking for financing from the industrialised world. With Exim Bank of USA – through Schaffer’s good offices – agreeing to make $53 million available at an encouraging interest rate of 6.8 per cent, partly as a direct loan from the bank itself, and partly guaranteed by Chase Manhattan Bank and the Bank of America. The money was to cover the cost of factory equipment. One condition of the American loan guarantee was for 90 per cent of the equipment to be bought in the US, including all processing equipment for the factory, power plants, boilers and turbo generators. This amount was also to include engineering fees for the consultants.
