NIGERIAN cement company, Ibeto Cement (Ibeto), has executed a binding Equity Subscription Agreement with New York-based private equity firm, Milost Global Inc. for a $850 million financing, of which $500 million is in equity and $350 million debt. Ibeto has also started the process of going public a reverse merger in the United States in an effort to become a publicly traded company.
On Friday May, 25 Ibeto’s owner, the Nigerian billionaire Chief Cletus Ibeto, will personally complete the acquisition of a publicly traded company the he will use to reverse the assets of his cement business in America, the final acquisition and definitive agreements having already been executed. The transaction was solely advised by Palewater Advisory Group Inc., and the going public transaction will allow Ibeto Cement to raise enough capital in the US public markets outside the Milost financing as well and put the company in the forefront of the cement industry in Africa.
Chief Ibeto plans to grow the company beyond West Africa through the acquisition of other profitable cement businesses outside Nigeria within the next 12 months. This will be done at the back for the development of the two new plants.
‘Our key strategic objective in the vast and extensive development of the cement business in Nigeria and the West African sub-region is to make cement affordable to all Nigerians and tiers of government in such a way that they should be able to develop modest homes for themselves and their families inclusive of road infrastructure,’ Chief Ibeto said.
‘ As far as I am concerned, and with the knowledge I have and what I know in this business, the cement business is an investors’ haven, especially in Nigeria and a much more profitable business than even crude oil where a lot of people think is the best place to invest. This probably explains why the few people in the business have deliberately created very strong barriers to entry into the industry for prospective investors. It is therefore my honest belief that this reverse merger will enable us to accomplish this objective. In the end and, in line with our strategic intent and objective, we are geared to be a world-class cement company in terms of quality, affordability, innovation, service, environment, safety, and corporate governance and also to be a part of building the country’s needed infrastructure all of which certainly guarantees good returns on investment for the stakeholders,’ he added.
Kim Freeman, Managing Partner & CEO of Milost Global Inc., also stated, ‘Ibeto Cement is an important investment for Milost in Nigeria and indeed Africa. We expect this transaction to provide a template for our other investments in Africa which will continue to enhance the value of the companies we invest in as well as value for our investors.’