Ibeto Cement to Get $850m From Milost

• Ibeto Cement to Get $850m From Milost

Ibeto Cement Company Limited, a privately owned Nigerian producer of the building material, has signed a deal to get $850m in financing from Milost Global Incorporated, according to the New York- based private equity firm.

Milost will provide $500m in equity and $350m as debt to the 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 Nnewi, according to Bloomberg. There was no immediate response to an emailed message.

The company operates a cement-bagging facility in Port Harcourt and is currently rehabilitating NigerCem, a former state-owned plant in Nkalagu, which it acquired.

The announcement of a deal with Ibeto is coming weeks after Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc said it was pulling out of a $350m funding deal with the US firm, citing what it called “red flags.”

Milost in March ended talks to provide $1bn 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.