Nigeria’s Dangote Cement plans London listing
Nigeria’s largest cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc, is investing in new production plants around Africa to establish itself as a continental market leader before a planned listing in London, an executive director said.
Devakumar Edwin, said Dangote Cement is still committed to a London listing, as market conditions improve, having put such a plan on hold because of the global downturn.
“We are planning to float the entire cement division as a company, putting all the assets (around Africa) into one company. We primarily wanted to take the company to the London Stock Exchange,” Edwin told Reuters in an interview.
“We realised that it is not the right time, we are just waiting to see how things are moving,” he said.
Growth in cement demand from Angola to Zambia, driven by a shortage of infrastructure, has spurred Dangote Cement’s expansion strategy across the world’s poorest continent.
The company has acquired mining leases in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Angola, and is looking at Equatorial Guinea and Ghana, Mr. Edwin said.
Last month, Dangote Cement signed contracts worth $228 million with China’s Sinoma International Group to build plants in Senegal and Zambia.
The contracts for the two 3000tpd plants marked the revival of its expansion plans outside sub-Saharan Africa’s second-biggest economy following the global economic slowdown.
“Our ambition is high. We want to expand very fast, but at the same time, if we want to rapidly grow, we need funds for expansion,” Mr. Edwin said. Published under Cement News
