RUGE Capital - A new payer in cement production
A new player RUGE Capital has appeared in the cement production market in Georgia. From US$200 to US$300m will be invested by the partnership of Georgian-American Company RUGE Capital and Firebird Fund in building a new cement factory.
“We’ve been investing in Georgia since 2004. We’re one of the largest shareholders of the Bank of Georgia and we’ve been familiar with Georgia for a long time. Our main competitor on the market will be Heidelberg Cement who has the largest share on the market. We assume that the Georgian market can handle more than two companies and we will take our chances. The market will show us whether we’ll be leaders or just followers of the market,” Ian Hague, Lead Manager of Firebird Fund, told The Financial.
The license period for using the limestone quarry is 20 years. The factory will employ from about 300 to 500 people. The object brought at the auction was the Babakiari cement limestone mine in the Marneuli region. The total volume of the cement limestone to be obtained is 169,261,500t. The starting selling price was US$3m. The RUGE Capital LLC was declared as the winner. The company won the auction by offering US$6.8m. The factory will start operating in two to three years.
Firebird manages four private funds dedicated to investment in publicly traded equities of companies operating in the former Soviet Union and early-stage Eastern European countries, as well as two global portfolio equity funds. Firebird also co-manages two private equity funds focusing on the Baltic States.
Published under Cement News
