Qassim Cement Company has signed an agreement with the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) to secure SAR400 million ($105 million) funding for the construction of a fourth production line at its plant in the kingdom's Buraydah region.

The funding is being obtained mainly to help replace certain production lines and boost its capacity to 10,000 tonnes per day, said Qassim Cement in its filing to Saudi bourse Tadawul.

The financing is for a nine-year period, including a two-year grace period, with a repayment schedule over 7 years, it stated.

Guarantees were offered for the financing through promissory note, it added.

Qassim Cement aims to benefit from the financing provided by SIDF, in addition to the credit facilities available from the commercial banks (sharia-compliant) , in a manner that aligns with its financing requirements and contributes to minimizing financing costs, stated the company in the bourse filing.

TradeArabia had last year reported that Qassim Cement had awarded a $298 million contract to Chinese engineering company Sinoma for setting up the fourth cement production line at its Buraydah plant.

Under this, Sinoma will provide complete EPC services for the production line using the latest technologies in cement industry, it added.-TradeArabia News Service