
IFC injects $97 million into National Cement in Kenya and Uganda
- April 16, 2018
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- Demola
- Posted in IndustryManufacturingNews
Kenyan multi-millionaire businessman Narendra Raval has raised $97 million in the form of debt and equity from the International Finance Corporation to fund the expansion and construction of cement plants for his company, National Cement both in Kenya and Uganda.
National Cement is a subsidiary of Devki Group and Kenya’s largest indigenous cement company. Narendra Raval is the founder of the Devki Group, a $600 million (revenues) conglomerate that produces steel products and cement in Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
IFC has given a nod to give $90 million in form of a loan and an additional $7 million in form of equity that will see the expansion of two clinker and grinder sites in Kajiado and Machakos counties as well as construction of two new sites in Nakuru and Tororo.
In a statement from IFC, the current project involves a combined financing package for National Cement, for a phased expansion including two new grinding facilities in Tororo in Uganda and Nakuru in Kenya, with belonging quarries, and ultimately a second clinker line at the Merrueshi site in Kajiado.
Construction of 0.77 million tons per annum grinding plant in Tororo is nearing completion and is expected to be commissioned in June 2018 and will serve the Uganda market based on the clinker sourced from National Cement Kenyan operations and additives sourced locally.
Construction of an additional 0.88 Metric tons per annum grinding plant in Nakuru is expected to serve western Kenya. This plant will also source clinker from Kajiado operations and additives locally. The construction will start in mid-2018 and production is expected to commence mid-2020.
Construction of an 1.8 metric tons per annum clinker line – next to the first kiln in Merrueshi, Kenya, built as part of the previous IFC investment in the company and recently opened by President Uhuru Kenyatta -is expected to start in 2019 while the production of clinker at the second line is expected to start in 2021.
Source: The Exchange