A privately-owned Nigerian producer of building materials, Ibeto Cement Co. Ltd, has signed a deal to get $850 million in financing from Milost Global Inc, a New York-based private equity firm.
According to Bloomberg, Milost will provide $500 million in equity and $350 million as debt to the Nigerian cement maker, Milost said in a statement on its website, citing a “binding” agreement by the two parties.
Calls for comment didn’t go through on numbers listed on Ibeto’s website for its corporate office in the southeastern city of Nnewi. There was no immediate response to an emailed message.
The company operates a cement-bagging facility in the southern city of Port Harcourt and is currently rehabilitating Nigercem, a former state-owned plant in the southeastern town of Nkalagu, which it acquired.
The announcement of a deal with Ibeto is coming weeks after Nigerian company, Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc, said it was pulling out of a $350 million funding deal with the U.S. firm, citing what it called “red flags”.
Milost in March ended talks to provide $1 billion to Nigeria’s Unity Bank Plc, alleging threats by some suspected shareholders.
The lender denied entering a binding agreement with the private equity firm, saying talks were only preliminary.
