Power Cement completes Nooriabad expansion finance

One of the Pakistan’s leading cement producers, Power Cement Ltd has completed financing arrangements of PKR24.9bn (US$205m) for the 2.5Mta expansion of its cement plant Nooriabad Industrial Area, Kalo Kohar District, Jamshoroo, Sindh.

On completion of this expansion, Power Cement will be the second-largest producer in the Southern Region by May 2019, with the total capacity of 3.4Mta, saidTahir Iqbal, the company's CFO.

The breakdown of financing includes equity of PKR1.3bn by foreign investors such as The Investment Fund for Developing countries (IFU), IFU Investment Partner K/S and SL Smidth.  Equity of PKR7.4bn  retained by local shareholders for subscribing to right shares.

Other than equity, local investment includes PKR12.1bn, financed by National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Ltd, Faisal Bank, Bank of Punjab, Al Baraka Pakistan Ltd, Bank Alfalah, Dubai Islamic Bank, Askari Bank, First Oman Investment Co and First Credit and Investment Pakistan Ltd.

Investment worth PKR4.1bn is being financed by overseas organisations, including the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (Saudi Arabia), OFID, OPEC Fund for International Development (Austria) and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbh (Germany).

Equipment is being supplied by FLSmidth Europe while TEPC China is working as construction contractor.