By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Newly merged cement manufacturer Lafarge Africa Plc on Tuesday said it has acquired stakes worth N41 billion from Ashaka Cement Plc from Lafarge Nigeria (UK) Plc.
An issuer’s announcement to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) said Lafarge Africa bought a total of 1,312,444,260 ordinary shares of ASHAKACEM at N30.95 and were crossed today via off-market and was sold by Lafarge Nigeria.
‘’This is part of the on-going process to consolidate the South African Assets and the Nigeria Assets,’’ the cement maker said. ?
With this acquisition, Lafarge Africa has increased its stake in Ashakcem as it formerly owned 58.6 percent, 60 percent of Lafarge Wapco, and 100 percent of the Atlas cement company.
Also, Lafarge Africa has joint ownership with Holcim of privately held United Cement Company of Nigeria. It owns 100 percent of the Lafarge South African subsidiary.
To consummate the deal in July, Lafarge Africa paid $200 million in cash to the Lafarge group and 1.4 billion in new shares to Lafarge South Africa and other Nigerian businesses in order to combine them.
Share price of Ashaka Cement at the end of transactions on the Nigerian bourse gained N2.05, it opened at N30.95 and closed at N33.00 climbing 6.62 percent.