21 February 2013

Publication: Engineering news

Author: Idéle Esterhuizen

JSE-listed Sephaku Holdings and its 36%-owned subsidiary Sephaku Cement on Thursday said construction of the 1.2-million-ton-a-year cement production facility it was building near Lichtenburg, and a 1.4-million-ton-a-year grinding facility, in Delmas, was proceeding according to plan and within budget to start production at the end of the year.

In October, Sephaku Cement concluded a ten-year funding deal valued at R1.95-billion with banking firms Standard Bank and Nedbank.

Sephaku Holdings said in a statement that the agreement effectively closed the gap in terms of the capital required for Sephaku Cement to be fully prepared for market entry and to become a significant competitor in wholesale and retail cement trade.

Meanwhile, the JSE-listed entity’s acquisition of the entire issued share capital of ready-mix concrete company Métier Mixed Concrete for R365-million was expected to become unconditional by the end of February.

Shareholder approval for the transaction was obtained on January 11 and the Competition Commission granted its approval on February 6.