IFC, a member of the World Bank Group announced on Monday it has arranged a $500 million financing package alongside African and European partners to Nigeria’s BUA Cement to help the company part-finance and develop two new, energy-efficient cement production lines in northern Nigeria's Sokoto State.

Each line will produce about three million tonnes of cement annually when complete, serving markets in Nigeria, Niger, and Burkina Faso, IFC said in a press statement.

The statement said the package includes a $160.5 million loan from IFC's own account, a $94.5 million loan through the Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP), and $245 million in parallel loans from syndication partners, namely the African Development Bank (AfDB) – $100 million, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) – $100 million, and the German Investment Corporation, Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) – $45 million.

The statement said the plants will run partly on alternative fuels derived from waste and solar power. 

It said the project is expected to create about 1,000 direct jobs and 10,800 indirect jobs. Direct jobs include those in manufacturing, engineering, and advanced automation systems. Indirect jobs include those in the cleaning, maintenance, mining, and transportation sectors.

BUA Cement is Nigeria's second largest cement producer. AFC had made an initial $200 million investment in BUA Group in 2021.

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)