Lafarge Africa Set To Raise Bond to Refinance $302million Loan

Lafarge Africa has put up a $302 million bond in order to repay some dollar-denominated debt at United Company of Nigeria, UNICEM, which it acquired in 2015.

Chief finance officer Anders Kristiansson told analysts on Thursday, April 28, that there was strong interest for the bond and that book-building was expected to open in the second week of May.

The cement manufacturer said it had received approval from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a 100 billion naira bond, but will issue 60 billion naira for five-years.

Kristiansson said: “We are in the process of restructuring the UNICEM debt. We are in the middle of a roadshow. We want to refinance the U.S. dollar borrowings that we have in UNICEM.”