Egypt’s Arabian Cement Agrees Joint Venture with Brazil’s Cementos La Union

Egypt’s Arabian Cement has entered a joint venture for cement grinding with Brazil’s Cementos La Union worth 23 million Euros(28.76 million US dollar), it said in a statement.

Arabian Cement’s board of directors approved the venture with Cementos Relampago, an affiliate of Cementos La Union, “to establish a cement grinding facility in Northwest Brazil with a total capacity of 230,000 tons per year,” the statement said.

The investment cost of 23 million Euros would be financed 50 percent through debt and equity, the statement read. It said Arabian Cement’s contribution would be 7 million, “representing 60 percent of the total paid-in capital”.

Arabian Cement was the first major listing on Cairo’s bourse after the 2011 political uprising, raising $110 million. The company has a production capacity of 5 million tonnes a year and a market share of around 8 percent.

Egypt’s energy-hungry cement industry has been hit hard by severe energy shortages which have forced many companies to cut output by as much as 40 percent this year.

Source: Reuters