WiredInUSA September 2019

Mill refurb plans

Co-investment strategy

Israel’s Cellcom has completed both an indirect co-investment in wholesale broadband provider Israel Broadband Company (IBC), and the sale of its independent fiber optic infrastructure to IBC. In a press release to confirm the developments, Cellcom said it paid approximately $16 million for the indirect stake in IBC, the majority of which was “indirectly provided as [a] shareholder loan to IBC”. The operator said it had received around $48 million for the independent fiber optic network in residential areas. The transaction was financed entirely through shareholder loans indirectly provided to IBC by Cellcom, and its now co-investor in the wholesale broadband provider, Israel Infrastructure Fund (IIF).

The Iraq Ministry of Industry and Minerals has revealed that a steel billet mill and a rebar mill will be part of the ongoing refurbishment of State Company for Iron and Steel (SCIS). UB Holding, the contractors responsible for the refurbishment, ordered an electric arc furnace plant from Danieli in early 2018. The plant is scheduled to start production by the end of 2019, producing 150mm billets a a rate of 500,000 tons a year. The Iraqi ministry added that SCIS has begun construction of the new rebar mill. The mill will have a capacity of 600,000 tons per year, and is scheduled to go into production in 2020. According to the refurbishment plans, the plant will also add a continuous caster to expand the billet production and, in the final phase of the plan, a new direct reduced iron plant with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons.

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wiredInUSA September 2019