CIMAF West Africa

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 The Omnium des Industries et de la Promotion (OIP) Group (“the Sponsor” or the “Group”) is one of Africa’s leading cement companies. The Group is composed of three main divisions, Ciments de l'Atlas (CIMAT) - the Group’s oldest subsidiary which operates the Group’s cement operations in Morocco; Ciments de l'Afrique (“CIMAF” or the “company”) which includes all the Group’s operating companies (OPCOs) in Africa (other than Morocco) of which there are a total of 17. Included therein are 13 operating grinding plants in 11 countries within West & Central Africa and France.  The project involves up to a €165.5 million loan to CIMAF to support the company’s €250m capex across 3 countries, Senegal, Mali and Ghana (“the project”). More specifically, the use of funds will be to support the following activities:  Senegal: Construction of a greenfield integrated cement plant of CIMAF other regional grinding plants. Additional associated infrastructure including rehabilitation of an existing 2 km access road, installation of 6 power substations and an optional transmission line, in Pout, about 50 km from Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. The integrated cement plant is located on 520-ha site which contains limestone reserves. Transfer of limestone from the quarry will be via trucks along an internal 1 km road to the limestone crusher located within the confines of the plant;Mali: Addition of cement grinding capacity to the existing grinding plant located in Dio Gare, 35 km from Bamako, the capital city Mali; the plant has been operational since 2016; Ghana: Addition of cement grinding capacity to an existing grinding plant located in Tema, a major port area, 30 km outside Accra, the capital city Ghana; this plant has been operational since 2017.   The CIMAF Senegal project area already has two existing cement plants within a 5 km radius, a phosphate quarry about 1.5 km from the site, some nine separate villages are located between 1 km and 5 km from the proposed plant location to the north and west of the site. A national road traverses the southern part of the site, about 2 km away.  Construction of the cement plant in Senegal and the expansion of the grinding plants in Mali and Ghana is expected to commence within the next 24 months.