Raysut Cement expansion: signs land lease and port terminal services agreements for grinding unit in Oman

Raysut Cement Company, one of Oman’s largest cement manufacturers, has signed a land lease agreement and port of terminal services agreement with the Port of Duqm Company SAOC for building a new grinding unit in Oman at an investment of US$ 30 million.

The Duqm plant is being set up as part of the company’s aggressive expansion strategy in the local and regional markets. Both agreements were signed by Joey Ghose, Raysut Cement Company Chief Executive and Reggy Vermeulen, CEO of Port of Duqm Company. In a statement which follows a regulatory filing on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) by the listed company, Raysut said that once completed, the new grinding unit will add another 1 million t to its current capacity with the annual output reaching 7.4 million t.

“Our goal is to raise our capacity to 20 million t by 2025 and eventually be a solid partner to infrastructure development and in turn nation building in the markets where we are present,” Joey Ghose said. The current capacity of Raysut Cement stands at 6.4 million t/a. The company had posted a growth of 26.6 % in revenues last year with turnover recorded at OMR 91 million, a significant growth from OMR 71.8 million in 2017.

Following a US$ 60 million acquisition of Sohar Cements earlier in the year, Raysut also announced a joint venture with the MSG Group in East Africa to set up a US$ 40 million cement grinding unit in Berbera/Somaliland.

“We will continue to invest in markets where we find growth potential through acquisitions and by setting up greenfield projects. So far in 2019, we are looking at an investment of over US$150 million in capacity expansion.” Said Mr. Ghose, adding that it is also in the advanced stages of a joint venture in Georgia.

In its second phase, Raysut has plans to invest in India to the tune of US$ 700 million by 2022, out of which the company is already eyeing US$ 200 million in taking over two existing cement plants.

Recently, Raysut has also signed a US$ 51 million financing deal with Bank Nizwa of Oman to fund its operations and expansion plans across the Sultanate including in Salalah and Sohar.

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