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Lafarge Africa bids for 100% stake in Unicem

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Lafarge Africa bids for 100% stake in Unicem

The board of directors of Lafarge Africa Plc on Thursday met and approved the acquisition of 50 per cent equity stake in United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited (Unicem), in a bid that will increase Lafarge Africa’s equity stake to 100 per cent.

In a regulatory filing made at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the board of Lafarge Africa stated that the latest acquisition would be done on the same terms as initial acquisition of 35 per cent.

The 50 per cent equity stake that is the subject of acquisition is currently held by Egyptian Cement Holding (ECH) BV, an entity that is jointly owned by LafargeHolcim Group and Lafarge Africa.

LafargeHolcim’s interest in ECH is held through Holcibel SA. Lafarge Africa will purchase the shares from Holcibel.

The board of directors also approved the issue of 413.18 million shares as full consideration or payment for the acquisition.

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By the conclusion of the acquisition, Lafarge Africa will own an indirect 100 per cent equity stake in Unicem, which makes the Calabar-based cement firm a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lafarge Africa.

The latest acquisition bid comes on the heels of the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to Lafarge Africa to proceed on a new tender offer to acquire the entire equity stakes held by minority shareholders in Ashaka Cement Plc. Minority shareholders hold 392.864 million ordinary shares in Ashaka Cement, representing 17.54 per cent of the entire issued share capital of the Gombe State-based cement company.

Already, the board of Lafarge Africa has notified the board of Ashaka Cement of its intention to proceed with the tender offer to all minority shareholders of the company.

The tender offer, if successful, will make Ashaka Cement a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lafarge Africa Plc, and may lead to delisting of the cement company from the NSE. The board of Lafarge Africa was silent on the post tender-offer status of Ashaka Cement as well as the terms of this new tender offer.

 

 

 

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