AfriSam submits revised PPC merger offer

South Africa’s cement maker AfriSam has submitted a revised merger approach to larger domestic rival PPC, the company said on Monday.

AfriSam’s latest proposal values PPC at 5.75 rand per share, or SAR9.2bn (US$709.47m), and is the company’s  third attemp to merge with PPC and create a pan-African cement group with assets across six countries.

As part of the proposal, the African unit of Canada's Fairfax Africa Holdings offered to buy 22 per cent of PPC at 5.75 rand per share for SAR2bn and also give AfriSam a cash injection to reduce the merged entity's debt.

The initial response of PPC's independent board, created to assess the AfriSam merger, was that the offer was too low. "The preliminary observation of the independent board regarding the partial offer from Fairfax is that, as indicated through prior engagements with AfriSam on a possible merger, the current SAR5.75  offer price fundamentally undervalues PPC," PPC's Chairman Peter Nelson said in a statement. The proposal could still be put to the PPC board as it said it would consider the offer, also adding that it had received rival offers.