The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has provided an $81.9 million senior term loan to support the expansion of Veenocks Limited’s porcelain tile manufacturing plant in Sagamu, Ogun.

The project, estimated to cost $145 million, is aimed at increasing the plant’s annual production capacity from 3.3 million to 9.9 million square metres.

The bank disclosed this in a statement issued by Vincent Musumba, Communication and Events Manager, Afreximbank, on Monday.

According to the statement, its support for the project included a $2 million Project Preparation Facility (PPF) agreement signed with Veenocks in August 2024.

It said the PPF financed technical, commercial, financial, legal, environmental and social studies required to establish the project’s bankability.

“The studies financed through the PPF, complemented by Afreximbank’s pan-African experience, enabled Veenocks to broaden its growth ambitions beyond its primary focus on the Nigerian market.

“This support informed the company’s plans to pursue regional opportunities over the medium term, with target markets including Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cameroon, Ghana, Mauritania and Senegal.”

The statement said the $81.9 million senior term loan would support the implementation of the plant’s expansion, including investment in additional manufacturing capacity.

It added that the existing plant employed more than 200 people directly, while the expansion was expected to create an additional 300 direct jobs.

The statement said the project is also expected to generate indirect employment opportunities across raw material supply, logistics and distribution.

It said the preparation financing had been fully repaid from senior debt, completing the PPF funding cycle for Veenocks and replenishing capital for other projects.

The statement quoted Mrs Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice-President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development, Afreximbank, as saying:

“Veenocks demonstrates how project preparation, commercial expertise and senior debt financing can support African industrial investment.”

Awani said the studies financed through the PPF had strengthened the project’s bankability and broadened the company’s regional growth ambitions.

“Our senior debt financing supports the plant expansion needed to convert those ambitions into increased productive capacity, and stronger foundations for intra-African trade.”

She added that full repayment of the preparation financing would make funds 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.’

Also, Mr Adebisi Adebutu, Group President of R28 Holdings, the parent company of Veenocks Limited, was quoted as saying: “This investment represents an important step towards our ambition of building a globally competitive manufacturing business in Nigeria, producing world-class tiles to European quality standards and reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported tiles.”

He said the PPF was instrumental in broadening the company’s growth plans and positioning it 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.”

Adebutu said the company’s vision was to set a global benchmark for quality in tile manufacturing and become Africa’s first choice for porcelain tiles.