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Steel firm unveils $36 million investment in Nigeria

By Femi Adekoya
18 November 2015   |   1:25 am
Strong Structural Steel, a new entrant in the nation’s steel industry, has stated that its $36 million investment in the country will raise the country’s construction standards while shoring up the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.
Steel

Steel

Strong Structural Steel, a new entrant in the nation’s steel industry, has stated that its $36 million investment in the country will raise the country’s construction standards while shoring up the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.

The proposed investments will see the firm setting up a state-of-the-art technology and proprietary building systems that will be the foundation for an innovative construction/public works in meeting the growing construction needs of Nigeria.

According to a statement, Strong Structural Steel, a United States steel fabricator specialising in the fabrication and erection of Class A Structural Steel, miscellaneous Steel and Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings, was built and equipped to immediately hire 300 local Nigerian employees.

“The facility will provide products and supervise labour intensive affiliated construction projects; projects that will engage thousands of Nigerians and consequently help to reduce the crime rate. The project is facilitated and developed by Samano S.A. DE C.V Nigeria Limited”, the statement read.

President and CEO of Samano S.A. DE C.V. Nigeria Limited, Jose Salazar Tinajero said: “The company intends to establish private-public ventures that will benefit the government’s vision of economic growth and the communities’ life quality. The company seeks to establish and ramp up the operations as soon as possible. It plans to dominate the technical aspect of operation with the Strong Structural Steel employee training program in the short term of 18 Months.”
According to Tinajero, the investment is projected as a joint ventures/partnership/affiliation with the Nigerian Government or designated entity to establish a beneficial ownership and operational structure.

He said $36 million is being secured to fund on a predetermined progressive scale to allow for the needed construction, equipment, and training of phase 1 of the project.

“The company has already spoken to several participants interested (e.g. emerging market fund, Private Equity Group, Financial institution, etc) in funding the project and bringing it to fruition. We are currently seeking federal or state government participating in the form of land, permits, contracts, and equity participation of no less than 15 percent,” he said, adding that this will allow the government to participate in profit-sharing and job creation.

Lamar Strong, owner and founder of Strong Structural Steel (USA) added, “During the construction and training time, Strong Structural Steel US plant will produce any project sold in Nigeria under a profit sharing agreement similar to that of the partnership agreement. The company is financially strong and its condition is easily verifiable through bank and tax return record as well as financial statements.”

The project coordinator explained that the firm targets to produce $150 million of sales with a single shift, a projection that does not include the metal stud fabrication, stressing that the steel firm conservatively expects a 12 percent net profit.

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