KfW Ipex Bank has agreed to lend US$ 794mn to finance the export of a state-of-the-art steel facility to the US.

KfW Ipex is the mandated lead arranger and underwriter of the 10-year financing package, which includes export credit insurance from the German ECA, Euler Hermes.

The borrower is Big River Steel, a steel producer for the automotive, oil and gas and electricity industries based in Mississippi County, Arkansas. The components of the production and steel recycling mill will come from Germany, supplied by steel mill systems provider SMS Siemag in Düsseldorf.

Commenting on the financial closing, KfW Ipex management board member Markus Scheer says: “We are financing a highly efficient steel mill while also safeguarding many qualified jobs for the exporter in Germany.”

Once completed, the facility will be one of the largest and most cutting-edge steel mills in North America, and at US$1.6bn is the largest investment in the state’s history. It is designed to produce 1.6 million tonnes of high-quality steel every year. Construction is expected to be completed in 2016.