ARM Cement's Kenyan assets sold for $50m – statement

21st May 2019 By: Reuters

The assets of Kenya's ARM Cement have been sold to the National Cement Company for $50-million, its administrator said on Tuesday.

ARM Cement was put under administration last August by some of its creditors over a $190-million debt and its shares were suspended from the Nairobi bourse. It has debts with a range of creditors, including local commercial banks.

The transaction, which applies to ARM Cement's Kenyan assets only, is subject to regulatory approvals, the statement from the administrator said.

The company and its subsidiaries also have operations in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

In October, the creditors of ARM Cement, once the country's second-largest cement maker, approved the sale of a subsidiary or assets to reduce its debt.

The company has seen its market share plunge to just 10% after the clinker plant it built in Tanzania in 2014 failed to generate income.

In December, Oman's Raysut Cement said it planned to acquire ARM Cement as part of its expansion plans.

A month earlier, Nigeria's Dangote Cement was approached about a potential transaction by advisers to ARM Cement, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters at the time.