Citadel Capital announced that ASEC Minya (formerly the Arab National Cement Company), a key subsidiary of portfolio company ASEC Cement, has started the production of clinker at its 2Mta cement plant in Minya. Cement production is expected to commence within one month.

Located 200km south of Cairo and 50km north of the city of Minya, ASEC Minya is the second greenfield cement plant to be launched by ASEC Cement in five years. The first was Takamol Cement in Sudan, a 1.6Mta plant that began production in November 2010.

"We are extremely proud to have been able to see this project through to completion despite the challenging operational environment," said ASEC Cement CEO Giorgio Bodo.

Security issues, fuel scarcity and a general environment of instability resulted in major setbacks and required us to come up with creative ways of ensuring that the project did not come to a halt," he added.??ASEC Minya will be connected to the national grid via a 42km transmission line that connects the plant to the Samalloot power station. A slow regulatory approval process will not allow the plant to have a connection to the electrical grid until the end of 2013 but in the meantime ASEC Minya has come up with a temporary solution with rented generators to provide power to the plant.

Construction on the plant began in December 2010 but work on site was interrupted one month later due to the Egyptian Revolution. To make up for lost time, ASEC Cement came up with a recovery plan that allowed it to arrive at clinker production in just 28 months.

ASEC Cement is the largest shareholder in ASEC Minya with a 45 per cent stake in the project. Other shareholders in ANCC include Misr Qena Cement (13.9 per cent), Hayel Saeed (30.7 per cent), IFU/FLS (9.2 per cent) and other shareholders (1.2 per cent). ASEC Minya stands as one of Egypt's largest project finance deals to date. Citadel Capital owns an indirect stake of 16.7 per cent in ASEC Minya.

"The steadfast support of our financial partners and their belief in the viability of the project was also a key factor that allowed us to remain on track," added Bodo.

As the only cement plant in Minya producing grey cement, ASEC Minya is well positioned to serve other high-demand markets across Upper Egypt.