Lagos — Lafarge Africa plans to raise as much as 90-billion naira ($249m) through a share sale in Nigeria, with the continent’s second biggest cement producer using the funds to lower its debt levels. The sale will take place by the fourth quarter, CFO Bruno Bayet said by phone on Tuesday after the company reported a loss. The move by the Lagos-listed unit of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim would be on top of a rights issue of about 130-billion naira late last year. "Profit is affected by leverage, so it needs to be brought down," he said. The company’s total debt dropped to about $600m in 2017 from more than $1bn. It expects its leverage ratio, which measures the level of debt incurred against its assets, to drop to between 60% and 70% "over the next 18 months", from more than 100%, chair Mobolaji Balogun said in May. Lafarge Africa’s loss for the six months through to June 30 narrowed to 3.9-billion naira from 19.7-billion naira in the previous year, it said in a Nigerian Stock Ex...
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