NAIROBI — National Cement Company, which this week signed a deal to buy the Kenyan assets of ARM Cement from its administrator, plans to invest $36 million to modernise the production plants it is acquiring, its chairman said on Friday.
ARM, which was once the second biggest cement maker in Kenya behind LafargeHolcim’s Bamburi Cement, was put under administration last August by some of its creditors over debts totaling $190 million. Its shares were then suspended from the Nairobi bourse.
National Cement emerged as the winner of a bidding round to buy the company’s Kenyan assets, including land and plants, agreeing to pay $50 million, ARM’s administrator PWC said on Tuesday.
National Cement, which holds 11% of the Kenyan cement market with its Simba Cement brand, wanted to raise its production capacity in the East African nation, where cement consumption has been rising in recent years due to a construction boom.
Reuters
