SOUTHERN AFRICA NEWS
Nigerian Dangote Cement has approached PPC about a takeover
deal, following a joint offer from Canadian Fairfax Financial
Holdings and AfriSam. According to Bloomberg, Dangote informed
the PPC board that it is interested in buying out “the entire share
capital”, although communication is still at the preliminary stage.
While PPC will consider all bids, its largest shareholder, the Public
Investment Corporation (PIC), purportedly supports a merger with
AfriSam and Fairfax to create a South African cement giant. According
to data compiled by Bloomberg, PIC owns about 11% of PPC, as well as
approximately 60% of AfriSam. Dangote’s takeover of PPC, if it comes to
pass, would combine two of Africa’s largest cement makers and prevent
the much-talked-about merger with AfriSam.
expected, which is likely to
witness a return to a positive ACI
trend before the end of the year.”
Dr Botha also points out that
the South African economy
expanded by more than 1%
during the first half of the
year — the first time this has
occurred since the beginning
of 2015. “Construction sector
output is traditionally a lagged
indicator of overall economic
activity. Prospects are likely to
improve into the second half of
the year, as the country’s GDP
starts to build momentum on
the back of higher world growth,
lower interest rates, and the
recovery of several key export
commodities.”
Combined with the increase
in export commodity prices,
excellent rains in the summer
rainfall regions, and an all-time
record maize crop, South Africa’s
primary sectors are performing
exceptionally well right now.
Dr Botha says he expects the
economy to grow at more than
1% this year, and with more
AfriSam won two of the four awards for the industry’s
top performers for 2017 at the recent Southern African
ReadyMix Association (SARMA) awards, held during
the Concrete Conference in August, namely the Best
Plant Award for its Wynberg ready-mix facility and the
Best Fleet Award for its Gauteng ready-mix fleet. The
SARMA awards are based on detailed compliance audits
that measure safety, health, transport, environment,
and quality at members’ ready-mix plants. The wide
range of criteria include hazard identification, risk
assessment, legal requirements, communication,
participation, and documentation.
policy certainty and further
improvement in metal mineral
prices, this figure could increase
to over 2% in 2018.
Afrimat CEO Andries van
Heerden says the activity in
the construction sector has
tightened, but for players
such as Afrimat, being well
diversified, nimble, and
positioned to work on the
medium to small projects,
the sector remains attractive.
“Granted, you have to remain
on your toes and ever-vigilant
to opportunities,” Van Heerden
explains. The results of
this study are showing that
construction is a sector in
which government spend is
still taking place and given
economic constraints, it
is natural for the sector to
come off slightly. “However, if
companies position themselves
correctly on product quality,
price, and service delivery,
they should be able to make a
decent return for shareholders,”
concludes Van Heerden.
QUARRY SA | NOVEMBER 2017 _ 5