IDB supports Argentinean cement company

Argentina's leading cement producer, Loma Negra, will receive up to US$ 125 million in medium-term financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to support the company's capital expenditure programme.

Last year the IDB approved a US$ 100 million A/B facility for Loma Negra, which is owned by the Brazilian conglomerate Camargo Correa. Due to a successful syndication and an oversubscription of the B loan, the financing was increased by US$ 25 million, an IDB statement said.

The transaction was structured in an eight-year, US$ 20 million A loan from the IDB and a five-year, US$ 105 million B loan, which was syndicated among Santander, Standard Bank, Itaú, HSBC, BBVA and BNP.

Jozef Henriquez, chief of the Syndication Unit of the IDB's Structured and Corporate Finance department said, "This expanded facility will offer Loma Negra longer tenors than are currently available in the Argentine financial market. It reflects both the strength of its corporate parent and an increasingly receptive credit market."

Loma Negra has already started on the expansion and modernisation of key production plants. These investments will boost its total production capacity by about +20%, the statement said.

The company also plans to install state-of-the-art gas and dust filters in its plants and enclose warehouses to cut dust emissions during transportation and storage of materials. Additionally, it will upgrade its fuel handling facilities and clean and restore abandoned limestone quarries.