Libya Holdings bets on reconstruction

Libya Holdings Group is making a big bet on the country's reconstruction - even as a civil war rages and jihadi militants advance on its cities - by finalising a deal to buy one of region's largest cement firms and private-sector employers.

On Tuesday, the group said it had bought a majority stake in Libyan Cement Company, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, for an undisclosed sum. Ahmed Ben Halim, founder of Libya Holdings, said the deal was worth "tens of millions of dollars" and that it would entail millions more investment in the company's three cement plants in eastern Libya.

"I'm not crazy," he said, when asked about his decision to invest as fighting continues across towns in the east, south and west. "We have a long-term strategic plan that Libya's going to rebuild its infrastructure. And a key element of this is cement."

Mr Ben Halim, the son of a former Libyan prime minister who spent the years of former ruler Muammer Gaddafi's reign in exile, said a deal had been in the works before Libya descended into a civil war 11 months ago.

With large parts of Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, laid waste by the conflict, two of LCC's main plants currently lie dormant. A third lies near the eastern city of Derna, which is under the control of extremist Islamists including some loyal to Isis.

"When we first started working on this, the possibility of conflict was a growing concern," he said. "But the fact things have descended to where they have is an issue."

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Mr Ben Halim said his holding company will acquire a majority stake in LCC and had recruited 15 other investors including "leading merchant families" of the Arabian Peninsula. Other participants in the deal include an industrial group and financial firm in Saudi, and investors from Kuwait and the UAE and several European-based investors.

Despite the current conflict, Mr Ben Halim - a former executive at Saudi International Bank and the Saudi Monetary Authority - said he remained optimistic about Libya's future.

"Libya is an oil country which hasn't happened," he said. "Eventually, Libya will settle down eventually it will become more akin to some of these oil-producing countries in the Gulf."

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