WASHINGTON, D.C., June 25 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is signing an Agreement today in Beijing to provide $28.73 million in loan financing and $2 million in equity for a $123 million cement project in China. A new joint venture company known as the Yantai Mitsubishi Cement Co. Ltd. (YMC) will build and operate the greenfield cement plant to produce over 900,000 tons per year of high grade Portland cement. It will be located 30 km from the port of Yantai in Shandong province in north east China. Scheduled to be completed in December 1995, the cement plant is expected to meet China's growing demand for high grade cement. As one of the first modern joint venture plants in the cement sector in China, the project will include a substantial transfer of technology from the main project sponsor, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MMC). MMC, along with two other Japanese companies (Mitsubishi Corporation and UNICOOP JAPAN) will hold 65 percent of the equity of YMC. Thirty percent of the equity will h
e held by Yantai Building Material Industrial Company and State Raw Material Investment Corporation, both of which are Chinese enterprises involved in the production and sales of building materials. IFC will hold the remaining 5 percent of the equity. IFC is providing a long-term loan without government guarantees, secured by the project's assets. IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is the largest source of equity and loan financing for private sector projects in developing countries.
