BUA Cement, under the leadership of Nigerian billionaire Abdulsamad Rabiu, has successfully obtained a financing package of $500 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other lending institutions.
The primary objective of this substantial investment is to bolster the company’s cement production capabilities.
In a joint statement released on Tuesday, both the IFC and BUA expressed their enthusiasm about the funding, emphasizing its role in partially financing the development of two advanced and energy-efficient cement production lines at the Sokoto state plant located in northwest Nigeria.
The financing structure consists of $160.5 million from the IFC, $245 million in syndicated loans provided by the African Development Bank, Africa Finance Corporation, and the German Investment Corporation, and an additional $94.5 million from institutional investors.
According to the IFC and BUA, the newly established cement production lines will operate partially on alternative fuels derived from waste and solar power.
Once fully operational, each line is expected to have an annual cement production capacity of approximately three million tons. This increased capacity will facilitate the supply of cement to markets in Nigeria, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
Currently holding the position of Nigeria’s second-largest cement producer, BUA Cement has an existing capacity of 11 million tonnes. With the injection of this new investment, the company’s total capacity will rise by an additional six million tonnes.
Moreover, the funding package includes provisions for BUA Cement to replace a portion of its diesel trucks with vehicles powered by natural gas, thus contributing to the reduction of pollution, as highlighted in the joint statement.
Abdulsamad Rabiu, the prominent Nigerian billionaire and majority owner of BUA Cement, boasts a present net worth of $8.24 billion, as reported by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index
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