Johannesburg - Illovo Sugar [JSE:ILV] said on Monday it has
raised 940 million emalangeni ($134m) to finance expansion at its unit in
Swaziland.
Illovo, a unit of Associated British Foods, said the money
would fund major factory expansion at Ubombo Sugar and a co-generation project,
which is to be commissioned fully in May this year.
The company, Africa's biggest producer of the sweetener,
said the expansion project commenced in 2009 and has resulted in Ubombo's
annual sugar production capacity increasing to more than 300 000 tonnes from
around 220 000 tonnes.
"This funding has been critical to our expansion plans and will enable us to increase production capacity at our sugar factory in Big Bend, Swaziland, while improving our power generation capacity from renewable resources," said Illovo MD Graham Clark.
Illovo said Investec Capital Markets, Nedbank Capital and Standard Bank of South Africa acted as lead arrangers in the Swaziland local debt market financing transaction.