Esteel Loan (IFC-51259)

Regions
  • East Asia and Pacific
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Malaysia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Pasir Gudang Industrial Estate, Johor
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Feb 5, 2026
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Green Esteel Pte Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 80.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 80.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 117.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jan 15, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Jan 6, 2026


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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the IFC, the proposed investment entails a debt financing package of up to US$80 million to Green Esteel Pte. Ltd. (“Green Esteel”) to finance equipment replacement and refurbishment for Eden Flame, an existing integrated steel mill in Malaysia.

Eden Flame is owned by Eden Flame Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Green Esteel. Key project activities include:

(i) dismantling the obsolete Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) and installing a new EAF;
(ii) dismantling existing rolling mill lines and installing new lines; and
(iii) providing additional working capital for EF.

The new facilities aim to minimize yield loss, reduce energy consumption, and enhance operational efficiency.

The IFC investment will finance the installation of a new steel production plant comprising a 50-tonne Consteel EAF, a dual-station ladle furnace (LF) with ladle transfer car, a continuous casting machine (CCM) for billet manufacturing, a 1,440,000 m³/h dedusting plant with fume extractors and baghouse filters for primary and secondary suction systems, a high-speed rolling mill for rebar production with a temp-core system to enhance energy efficiency and product quality, a conventional pulse-combustion natural gas reheating furnace, new enclosed scrap bays and a scrap processing bay, a cut-and-bend facility for value-added rebars, renovated rebar and scrap steel processing workshops, overhead crane systems for scrap and rolling mill operations, auxiliary infrastructure including transformers, security surveillance, fire protection, water treatment and drainage systems, rainwater collection, and site facilities such as the main gate, guard house, and weighing room. All technical machinery and equipment will be supplied by Chinese manufacturers.

Once operational, the plant will have a capacity of 600,000 tons for steel making and 600,000 tons for rebar. For the new production process, scrap will be melted in the EAF with alloy additions via automated charging, supported by a preheater tunnel and a baghouse for emissions control. Molten steel will then undergo metallurgical treatment in the LF before being cast into billets using the CCM. Billets will be hot-charged or reheated for rolling through sequential mills to produce finished products, followed by Tempcore cooling, cutting, straightening, bundling, and storage.

Eden Flame, formerly owned by Antara Steel Mills Sdn Bhd, was established in 1975 by Johor Corporation in Pasir Gudang Industrial Estate, Johor, Malaysia. The plant was leased to Lion Group Malaysia in 2001 and renamed Eden Flame in 2020. In May 2022, Green Esteel Pte. Ltd acquired EF. At the time of acquisition, Eden Flame was not operating, having been shut down in 2019.
The demolition of the existing plant was completed in early November 2025, and construction of the new plant is expected to start in January 2026. Geili Machinery (Fujian) Group Co. is the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor, CISDI is the project management consultant/owner’s engineer, and EF’s project team oversees implementation. Demolition is primarily handled by local subcontractors. Operations are expected to commence in September 2026.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

As stated by the IFC, the Project cost is estimated at US$117 million, which will be funded by IFC’s debt financing package of up to US$80 million and equity contributions from Green Esteel and other shareholders.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the IFC, Green Esteel is beneficially owned by Mr. You Zhenhua with an interest of approximately 87.8%. By ownership, Green Esteel is 20.2% owned by Deep Source Holdings Limited, a Hong-Kong listed investment holding company that primarily engages in the processing, distribution, and commodities trading. Mr. You Zhenhua is the ultimate beneficiary for Deep Source Holdings Limited. The remaining 4.2% of interest in Green Esteel is owned by other shareholders.  


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Client - Green Esteel Pte. Ltd.:

Winnie Yang - Senior Associate
Phone: +65 6593 1394
Address: Green Esteel Pte Ltd, 3 Anson Road, #29-01, Springleaf tower, Singapore 079909

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: +1 202-473-3800
Fax: +1 202-974-4384

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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