Nigeria: Lafarge Cement WAPCO raises NGN11.8bn bond successfully

Nigeria: Lafarge Cement WAPCO raises NGN11.8bn bond successfully
19 October 2011


Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria plc has successfully raised a total sum of NGN11.8bn (US$113m) bond at a fixed interest rate of 11.5 per cent, in an issuance completed under the company’s NGN50bn Bond Issuance Programme. This was disclosed at the company’s completion board meeting in Lagos recently.

The first series of the bond issuance programme, which is a three-year fixed rate (2011-14) Bond, was offered to subscribers by way of a Book Build which was brought to a close on 7 October 2011. Proceeds from this issue will be utilised to re-finance part of the company’s existing variable interest rate loan facilities on the Lakatabu expansion project.

The company’s new plant, Ewekoro II, has commenced production with its first cement on 16 September 2011. Ewekoro II has 2.5Mta cement capacity, which will bring the company’s total capacity to 4.5Mta after inauguration in the next few days.

The new plant is supported by a 90MW power plant, which is in excess of the requirements of the cement plants, and the company is currently exploring the possibility of transferring this excess power to the national grid.

The lead issuing house was Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited, while joint issuing houses include Access Bank, Citibank Nigeria Limited, Ecobank, FBN Capital Limited, FCMB Capital Markets Limited, First Securities Discount House Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank, Keystone Bank Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, and Union Capital Markets Limited.

Two weeks back, in partnership with the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Idris Umar, minister for transport, flagged off rail haulage of cement for faster and regular supply to customers nationwide.
Published under Cement News