Notore, banks restructure $400m loan

The management of Notore Chemical Companies Limited and a consortium of banks have agreed to restructure the terms of payment of the $400m the company used to rehabilitate the Onne fertiliser complex in Rivers State.Notore recently announced the completion of a three-year rehabilitation project of the complex, which cost $600m.Out of the sum, $400m was sourced from a consortium of Nigerian banks, while about $200m came from the shareholders.The banks are First Bank of Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Mainstream Bank Limited and United Bank for Africa Plc, among other Nigerian banks.This is the total amount of funding Notore has done to achieve what we have achieved today, the Managing Director, Notore, Mr. Onajite Koloko, told a group of bank executives after a facility tour of the revamped complex.The bankers visit was necessitated by a debt restructuring programme initiated by Notore in respect of the loan. After the tour and a closed-door session, Koloko said the results were fruitful.According to him, the company now operates at 90 per cent of its installed capacity with wide opportunities for breakthrough.He said the company now had a new area of competitive advantage in NPK (phosphate) production.Koloko added that about N1.2bn would be required to put the new plant into full operation.We account for 100 per cent of the urea market because most of the big importers of urea no longer import it. In terms of NPK, you can see that our NPK plant has just been inaugurated and we should start producing NPK for the next planting season. Based on that, we do have a sizeable market share, he said.Following the rehabilitation of the old National Fertiliser Company of Nigeria, which was bought over by Notore in 2005, the management said the firm had been positioned for adequate and effective supply of inorganic fertiliser throughout the country.Notore is an agro-allied and chemical company owned by a consortium of private and foreign institutional investors. It was established in August 2005 after the acquisition of the liquidated assets of NAFCON by the Bureau of Public Enterprises.
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