BSRM's billet plant goes into operation by August

BSRM Group, a leader in iron and steel manufacturing in Bangladesh, is setting up a high quality billet making plant in Chittagong to ensure a steady supply of quality billets for its rolling mills, senior officials said.

The construction of the new plant, BSRM Iron & Steel Company Ltd (BISCO), claimed to be the largest billet-manufacturing unit, is progressing fast. It is expected to start its commercial operation from August this year.

BISCO's estimated cost will be Tk 1.946 billion, of which Tk 1.362 will be provided by several financiers.

“We signed a syndicated term loan facility for the Tk 1.362 billion with 14 financial institutions on Tuesday,” said Aameir Alihussain, director of BSRM Group.

Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IIDFC) is the lead arranger of the syndicated term loan. Representatives from the participating banks and BSRM signed the loan agreements.

Alihussain Akberali, chairman of BISCO, M Matiul Islam, chairman of IIDFC, Asaduzzaman Khan, managing director, SA Farooqui, managing director of Standard Bank, Erfanuddin Ahmed, president and managing director of Bank Asia, M Shahidul Islam, deputy managing director of United Commercial Bank, Rakibur Rahman, president of Dhaka Stock Exchange, and AB Siddique, CEO of Chittagong Stock Exchange, were present at the signing ceremony.

“The production capacity of the new plant will be around 1.50 lakh tonnes billet per year. The full output of the plant will be consumed by BSRM Steels Limited, an entity of our group,” Aameir Alihussain said, revealing another plan to set up a 1.50 tonne capacity billet making plant after setting up the ongoing plant.

The BSRM Group set up a captive billet making plant in 1996.