Ibeto Cement Company Limited has reportedly executed a Milost Equity Subscription Agreement (MESA) with Milost Global Inc. The binding agreement for a $850 million financing, of which $500 million is in equity and $350 million debt. The cement company has also started the process of going public with a reverse merger in the United States as efforts to become a publicly traded company.
What a reverse merger means
A reverse merger also called reverse takeover or reverse IPO is another way for a private company to go public. It’s typically through a simpler, shorter, and less expensive process than that of a conventional initial public offering (IPO)
The private company buys enough shares to control a publicly traded company. The private company’s shareholders then use its shares in the private company to exchange for shares in the public company.
According to reports circulated by an online media outfit Globe Newswire, Chief Cletus Ibeto, the billionaire owner of the Ibeto Group, will personally consummate the acquisition of a publicly traded Company he will use to reverse the assets of his cement business in America, the final acquisition and definitive agreements have already been executed.
How does Ibeto benefit
Assuming this deal goes through, which we doubt, the agreement 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.
The cement company also 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.
Dr Cletus M. Ibeto, Chairman of Ibeto Cement Company Limited, speaks on this deal, “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.
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.”
Recall that Ibeto cement re-acquired a 60% stake in Nigeria Cement Company Plc, NigerCem from Eastern Bulkcem, but the firm was mired in legal disputes with the host community where the cement factory is located since 2012. However, with the resolution of the dispute in mid-2016, Ibeto now has access to NigerCem facilities which is located in Ebonyi State.
