-  Still interested in S’Africa’s PPC
Dangote Cement is considering issuing Eurobond or a local debt issue and will make a decision towards the end of the year, its chief financial officer, Brian Egan said yesterday.
Reuters quoted Egan to have said 70 per cent of the company’s N389 billion debt was short-term and from its parent firm, Dangote Industries Limited, saying that the company wanted to move away from that.
He said the company, majority owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, was probably leaning towards a eurobond given that yields were falling and the naira currency was stablising.
In a related development, Dangote Cement also said yesterday that it was still interested in acquiring South African rival PPC and would do a deal at the right price.
It outgoing chief executive officer, Onne van der Weijde, who said this, revealed that
PPC was a “good fit†for Dangote Cement, which is majority owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
“We are still very much interested at the right price. We think it’s a good fit and we certainly would like to do a deal,†Weijde said during an analysts’ call discussing its nine months earnings.
Dangote Cement made an approach to PPC last month, but later withdrew, saying it did not want to get into a lengthy process with an uncertain outcome, Reuters quoted Weijde to have said, adding that the Nigerian company made an offer.
PPC is already the subject of an all-share merger bid by local rival AfriSam that values it at $700 million.
Earlier Dangote Cement announced that Weijde would step down at the end of the year as chief executive but remain on the board as a non-executive director.
Dangote Cement has invested $6.5 billion to develop cement plants across Africa.
Weijde said Africa required lots of cement plants to meet demand and that Dangote Cement was open to acquisitions or would grow organically as it had the know-how to develop new plants.
