Lafarge Africa plans N140bn rights issue

Lafarge Africa Plc plans to raise N140 billion from existing shareholders to deleverage its balance sheet and provide additional working capital.

The board of directors of Lafarge Africa has submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) a notice indicating that the cement group will propose a rights issue of up to N140 billion for approval by the shareholders at the annual general meeting next month.

Also on the AGM agenda, Lafarge Africa will be proposing to shareholders to approve the merger of Unicem into Lafarge Africa.Unicem, a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of Lafarge Africa, has foreign exchange loan of approximately $600 million. Between fourth quarter 2016 and April 2017, 50 per cent of the outstanding loan was hedged using the Non Deliverable Futures window of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Under the rights issue, LafargeHolcim Group will take up its rights and convert its portion of the loan to Unicem to equity. When the rights issue is opened, all shareholders will have the same proportionate rights in line with their shareholding in the company.

Combining its operations in Nigeria – Ewekoro and Sagamu plants in Ogun State, Ashakacem in Gombe State, Mfamosing in Cross Rivers State, Atlas cement in Rivers State and Ready-Mix Nigeria with its varied operations in South Africa, Lafarge Africa has a current installed cement capacity of 14.1Mtpa.

Gsent Talks.....Taking You Further