WASHINGTON, D.C., June 21 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has approved US$33.5 million in financing for DLF Cement Limited, a new company that will build a greenfield cement plant with an annual capacity of 1.43 million tonnes in the Pali District of central Rajasthan, India. The plant is expected to be commissioned in January 1996 and will serve the northern region of India, where the demand for cement exceeds supply. IFC's financing will consist of an equity investment of up to US$5.5 million, a loan for its own account of up to US$11 million, and an additional loan of up to US$17 million that will be syndicated with other financial institutions. Nihon Cement Company of Japan will provide technical management of the plant for the first year of operation. Also participating in the project is the DLF group, the largest real estate company in India. The group has developed 24 townships in and around New Delhi, and has diversified into construction and manufacturing. The DLF group will hold 34.6
percent of the shares in the cement plant, IFC will hold 12.1 percent, and 53.3 percent will be traded publicly on stock exchanges in India. "This plant will help meet the considerable demand for cement in north India, and also create new jobs and infrastructure in one of the least developed parts of Rajasthan," said Varel Freeman, Director of IFC's Asia Department. IFC is the private sector arm of the World Bank Group and is the largest source of multilateral financing for private sector projects in developing countries.
