By Chika Okeke
One of the foremost porcelain tile manufacturing companies in Sagamu, Ogun State, Veenocks Limited has attracted a US$145 million loan for development, expansion and regional growth, courtesy of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
The Afreximbank offered the support to Veenocks through its Project Preparation Facility (PPF) and an US$81.9 million senior term loan, expected to raise annual production capacity to 9.9 million square metres.
Afreximbank and Veenocks had signed a US$2 million project preparation facility agreement in August 2024 to finance technical, commercial, financial, legal, environmental and social studies needed to establish the project’s bankability.
Financed through the PPF, the interventions enabled Veenocks to broaden its growth ambitions by pursuing regional opportunities over the medium term, with target markets including Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cameroon, Ghana, Mauritania and Senegal.
The bank’s US$81.9 million senior term loan supports implementation of the plant’s expansion, providing financing for investment in additional manufacturing capacity. The expansion is expected to increase the plant’s total annual production capacity from 3.3 million to 9.9 million square metres, creating a stronger production base to meet domestic demand and pursue regional opportunities.
Veenocks, which currently employs more than 200 people directly, will create additional 300 direct jobs through the expansion programme, alongside indirect employment across raw material supply, logistics and distribution.
Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development, Afreximbank, Mrs. Kanayo Awani said that the intervention demonstrated how project preparation, commercial expertise and senior debt financing could support African industrial investment.
She disclosed that the studies financed through the PPF helped to strengthen the project’s bankability and broaden the company’s regional growth ambitions, adding that the bank’s debt financing supported the plant’s strategies to convert their ambitions into increased productive capacity, and stronger foundations for intra-African trade.
Awani added: “Full repayment of the preparation financing ensures capital is available to support more indigenous African investors and projects. This is the PPF’s revolving model in practice: the funds that have been repaid are used to support initiatives that add value to local resources and expand manufacturing.”
Group President of R28 Holdings, the parent company of Veenocks Limited, Mr. Adebisi Abidemi Adebutu said that the investment represents an important step towards its ambition to build a globally competitive manufacturing business in Nigeria, producing world-class tiles to European quality standards and reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported tiles.
He pointed out that the PPF was instrumental in broadening its growth plans and positioning the company to penetrate regional markets over the medium term.
“With Afreximbank’s financing, we can now deliver the expansion phase of this project. The facility will allow us to add value to Nigeria’s raw materials, create quality jobs and increase the supply of our porcelain tiles, manufactured here in Nigeria, to customers at home and across the region. Our vision is to set the global benchmark for quality in tile manufacturing and to become Africa’s first choice for porcelain tiles,” he added.
