Chakwal Cement likely to get financing

Pakistan’s Chakwal Cement is likely to get Rsbn funding from a consortium of banks soon to run the plant and complete the target of production expected to start from next year. According to sources in capital market, the company has sought funding from several banks in the country to run the plant in a more efficient manner. Bankers were not available to comment on when the loan would be provided to the company. But market sources said that the company would go into commercial production early next year, as the new owner, Egypt’s Orascom, is understood to have started infrastructure build-up.

Following purchase of 51 per cent controlling shares in Chakwal Cement Company Limited (CHKC) from the Chakwal Group of Industries late last year, Orascom Group had planned an initial investment of $100 million in the cement project. With the potential production capacity of 2.2Mt  per annum, Chakwal Cement could possibly emerge as one of the three largest cement plants in the country.