Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.20
By Nigar Guliyeva - Trend:
Uzbekistan's JSC "Akhangarancement" has approved a deal to conclude a guarantee agreement between Akhangarancement JSC and the Russian public joint-stock company Sberbank in the amount of over 21 billion soums ($2.6 million) for the development of production, Uzbek media reported.
Reportedly, one of the main conditions set by Sberbank for the loan is to obtain the consent of the borrower for the provision of a guarantee on the previously accepted financial obligations of EUROCEMENT and EUROCEMENT JSC, the total amount of whose debt on 9 non-renewable credit lines is 360 million Swiss francs, about $ 1,46 billion, over 40,8 billion Russian rubles.
Akhangarancement JSC became operational in 1961. The production capacity of the enterprise amounts to approximately 1.8 million tons of cement via wet processes.
Russian Eurocement Group got a 75.6 percent share of Akhangarancement in August of 2006. The Russian company bought a 50 percent package previously owned by the Uzbek-Swiss Bentonite JV and a 25.6 percent share from the Swiss Zeromax GmbH.
Currently, the Russian company controls 83.92 percent of shares of the plant. Other shareholders are individuals.
Eurocement Group plans to build three new plants in Uzbekistan. Industrial facilities will produce various building materials. Investments under the project are expected to be $ 330 million.
In 2017, the company shipped to its customers 1,899,079 tons of high-quality cement, which is 1.02 percent (41,196 tons) more than in 2016.
There are five big cement facilities and several small ones with total capacity of 8.5 million tons in Uzbekistan. Qizilqumsement JSC with capacity of 3.1 million tons and Akhangarancement JSC with capacity of 1.7 million tons are the biggest of them.