Nigeria’s equities market kicked off the new week on a positive note as investors saw the need to position in Lafarge Africa Plc as Huaxin plans to acquire majority stake in the cement maker in deal valued a $1billion.
Swiss building materials company Holcim Group is set to sell its controlling stake in Lafarge Africa Plc to Chinese corporation Huaxin Cement Company Limited.
At the close of trading on Monday, December 2, Lafarge Africa stock price rallied most on the Nigerian Exchange Limited by 10 percent, from N58 to N63.80, adding N5.80.
The market increased by 0.23 percent while investors gained about N138billion, pushing this year’s return to 30.71 percent.
Huaxin Cement is buying the shares through its subsidiaries, Hainan Huaxin Pan-Africa Investment Co. Limited and Huaxin (Hong Kong) International Holdings Limited.
Holcim currently holds its shares in Lafarge through two subsidiaries: Caricement B.V. and Associated International Cement Limited (AICL), which own 56.04 percent and 27.77 percent, respectively.
Combined, the group owns an 83.81percent stake, which it plans to sell to Huaxin Cement Company Limited.
The valuation of Lafarge for this deal is set at $1 billion. Huaxin Cement is expected to pay $838.1 million to acquire the 83.81 percent stake owned by Holcim.
The transaction exclusively involves the majority stake held by Holcim and does not include shares owned by minority shareholders.
Read also: Eight routes to NGX’s $100bn market cap
According to disclosures, Huaxim Cement intends to subsequently launch a Mandatory Takeover Offer (MTO) in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
The deal is anticipated to close in 2025, subject to regulatory approvals
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and equities market capitalisation increased from preceding trading day’s 97,506.87 points and N59.107 trillion respectively to 97,733.86 points and N59.245 trillion.
Another major advancer, Abbey Mortgage Bank also rose from N2.40 to N2.64, adding 24kobo or 10percent. African Prudential moved from N9 to N9.90, adding 90kobo or 10 percent, while VFD Group increased from N40.50 to N44.50, up by N4 or 9.88 percent.
Stocks of Japaul Gold, UBA, Access Holdings, Lafarge Africa, and GTCO were actively traded on the Bourse.
In 9,329 deals, investors exchanged 451,165,300 shares worth N10.150billion.
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