Displaying items by tag: Nigeria
Dangote Cement appoints new CEO
27 January 2015Nigeria: Dangote Cement has appointed Onne van der Weijde as CEO, effective from 1 February 2015. Van der Weijde, ex-Holcim India head, will take the helm from Dangote Cement's Devakumar Edwin.
Ibeto and Nigercem ownership dispute continues
07 January 2015Nigeria: The Ebonyi State Government in Nigeria has warned Ibeto Cement Company over an alleged illegal entry into the premises of Nigercem cement premises located at Nkalagu. The entry was perceived as an act of provocation by governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State, as Nigercem is still subject of an ownership dispute in the courts.
"Following dispute between the State government and Ibeto Group on the ownership of Nigercem, Ebonyi State Government exercised its illegal right of land ownership by revoking the certificate of all the land upon which Nigercem is situated," said Elechi. "By going into the premises of Nigercem without the permission of the State Government, the Ibeto Group has demonstrated an alarming desire to acquire the God-given mineral wealth of Ebonyi people for its interest".
Eastern Bulkcem Nigeria Limited owns a 65% stake in Nigercem. The origins of the current dispute arise from Eastern Bulkcem's failure to modernise the ageing plant, instead opting to use its ownership of the plant to obtain import licences for bulk cement. The Ebonyi State Government resorted to extra-judicial means to shut it down, revoking Nigercem's certificate of occupancy pending a Judicial Commission to investigate the state of affairs in the company.
Nigeria: Lafarge Africa made a US$122m offer on 10 December 2014 to buy out minority shareholders in its Nigerian business, Ashaka Cement. The offer follows the US$1.35bn merger of Lafarge Africa's Nigerian and South African businesses, which received approval from shareholders in July 2014.
Lafarge Africa said that as part of the merger deal it had acquired a 30% stake in Ashaka Cement, the trigger point for making a full takeover bid under Nigeria's securities and takeover rules.
Under the terms of the offer, shareholders who accept it will receive 57 Lafarge Africa shares for every 202 held in Ashaka Cement and an additional cash payment of US$0.0111/share. The offer will run from 10 December 2014 to 16 January 2015. Shares in Ashaka Cement have gained 17% in 2014.
The consolidation will enable Lafarge, which faces intense competition in Africa, to accelerate growth on the continent. Lafarge Africa owns60% of Lafarge Wapco, its listed subsidiary in Nigeria, 58.6% of Ashaka Cement Plc and 100% of the Atlas cement company. In November 2014, Lafarge Africa entered into an agreement to buy a 30% stake in United Cement Company from Flour Mills of Nigeria, which will give Lafarge's Nigeria Cement Holdings complete control.
Ashaka Cement plant attacked again
05 December 2014Nigeria: Nigerian police officers and soldiers repelled an attack on 4 December 2014 by gunmen on Lafarge's Ashaka Cement plant in northeast Nigeria, where security forces are battling an Islamic uprising, according to a police official.
The gunmen tried to shoot their way into the Ashaka Cement compound. The same plant in Gombe State was attacked in November 2014 by gunmen suspected of being Boko Haram extremists. A Lafarge spokeswoman in Paris said that no one was wounded in the latest attack. Boko Haram has been blamed for numerous deadly bombings and has taken control of around 25 towns and villages along the northeast border with Cameroon in recent months.
UNICEM orders Loesche Mill type LM70.4+4 with Cope drive
04 December 2014Germany/Nigeria: United Cement Company of Nigeria (UNICEM) has ordered the largest Loesche mill to date, a LM 70.4+4. The new LM 70.4+4 will have an output of 370t/hr at 4,700 Blaine in UNICEM's new line in Calabar, Nigeria. The delivery period is 14 months.
The 4+4 concept follows mill types with 2+2 and 3+3 rollers. The 4+4 grinding concept is intended to allow high throughput capacity or it can run in 2+2 roller operation, generating a mill output of 60%.
Loesche will use the Cope gearbox, which was developed in cooperation with Renk and offers a redundancy of up to eight motors at the motor end. With all eight motors in operation, a capacity totaling 8.8MW is achieved. The new Cope gearbox contributes the feature of working without a variable speed drive and operating with a reduced number of motors
Lafarge considers research centre for Nigeria
26 November 2014Nigeria: Lafarge is considering opening its sixth research centre in Nigeria. It will be the sixth development laboratory in the network following those in France, China, India, Algeria and Brazil. Lafarge's prospective research and development director, Gilles Rochard, made the announcement on a press tour in France.
Lafarge’s Nigeria unit to take complete control of United Cement
11 November 2014Nigeria: Lafarge's Nigerian business has entered into an agreement with Flour Mills of Nigeria to purchase a 30% stake of Nigeria's United Cement Company. The deal will give Lafarge complete control of United Cement Company.
"Pursuant to the agreement, the first 15% stake would be acquired in the first quarter of 2015, while the second 15% stake is scheduled to be acquired by February 2016 at the latest," said Lafarge.
Dangote Cement launches 32.5 grade cement
11 November 2014Nigeria: Dangote Cement has introduced 32.5 grade cement, intended only for plastering, into the Nigerian market. Dangote's managing director, Devakumar V G Edwin, said that Dangote has ventured into the production of 32.5 grade of the product because the regulatory agency, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), has clearly spelt out the different uses of the various grades of cement which must be complied with by the cement manufacturing companies.
Edwin said that Dangote had resisted requests from its customers to produce 32.5 grade cement and sell at a cheaper price because it didn't want the product to be misapplied. "Now the SON has stepped in. SON has taken controlling measures and they have re-emphasised that anybody producing the 32.5 grade cement must design their bags in a specific manner and the bags should carry clearly that this cement is meant for plastering only and not for any other application," said Edwin. "With these regulations in place, we have the confidence that we can now go into the production of 32.5 for plastering only."
According to Edwin, about 80% of cement produced by Dangote will still be 42.5R grade, which will remain Dangote's flagship product because of its 'superiority' and varied uses.
Bua Group spends US$500m on 3Mt/yr greenfield cement plant
07 November 2014Nigeria: Bua Group International has invested US$500m in a 3Mt/yr capacity greenfield cement plant in Okpella, Edo State. The Obu Cement Plant will take Bua's cement capacity to 5.3Mt/yr when it is commissioned in February 2015.
Bua Group already operates a 0.5Mt/yr capacity cement plant in Sokoto State via its subsidiary, Sokoto Cement. The plant currently operates at 100% capacity. Bua Group is also constructing a new 1.5Mt/yr capacity in the same state. In Edo State, Bua Group currently owns the 0.3Mt/yr capacity Edo Cement Plant.
The Obu plant is planned for conclusion and commissioning within the first quarter of 2015, and is predicted to hire over 1000 direct labour and thousands of indirect labour, according to Yusuf Binji, executive director, project and technical, Bua Group, Okpella, Edo State.
Lafarge Africa appoints new board members
05 November 2014Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange of the appointment of Adepeju Adebajo and Anders Kristiansson to the board of Lafarge Africa. Both staff members were formally appointed on 27 October 2014.
Adebajo is currently the MD of WAPCO operations. Prior to this, she served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Mouka Limited. She was already the CEO of UTC Nigeria Plc, where she successfully turned the business around.
She previously headed strategic planning, brand management and product development at the United Bank for Africa and has had management consulting experience at Boston Consulting Group in the UK and financial analysis experience at Citibank in the UK.
Peju holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) from the Imperial College of Science & Technology, London; a Master of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) from the University of London; and a Master of Business Administration, Harvard University, Boston.
Anders Kristiansson is a Swedish citizen who started his career with Procter & Gamble (P&G) in Scandinavia and thereafter worked for P&G in South Africa. He has been a Global Divisional Controller for Eaton Automotive working in Europe and North America, whereafter he returned to Africa to oversee Celtel's finance departments across its African operations as Director of Financial Operations.
He moved to Nigeria in 2008 as Group CFO for PZ Cussons Nigeria, managing Finance and IT for PZ's five Nigerian companies. Prior to joining Lafarge, he was the CFO for NBC/Coca-Cola HBC's operations in Nigeria.
He holds a Master of Science Degree in Business Administration and Economics from the Gothenburg University, Sweden.