Local investor snaps up Larfarge Cement stake
Hosia Mviringi
A local company Fossil Mining has snapped up a controlling stake in Swiss Cement manufacturing giant Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe.
The company has entered into a binding agreement with Associated International Cement for a 76.45 percent shareholding in the cement manufacturing giant.
Lafarge announced the deal through a cautionary statement to its shareholder dated June 6.
“Further to the cautionary announcement dated 31 May 2022, shareholders and members of the investing public are advised that Associated International Cement Limited, a member of the Holcim Group, has entered into a binding agreement for the sale of 76.45 per cent stake in Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Limited to Fossil Mines Private Limited,” said Lafarge.
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Limited, a subsidiary of Switzerland based Holcim Holdings, is the country’s second largest manufacturer of cement products in Zimbabwe and thus it is a strategic entity in the construction industry.
The company is one of many eminent Swiss enterprises which have been very faithful to the Zimbabwean economy throughout the difficult period of economic sanctions on the country by the West as led by the European Union and the US.
Early this year in February when the company shareholders announced plans to sell their stake in the Cement maker to a Chinese investor, Huaxim Cement, there was a loud outcry from local empowerment groups led by the Affirmative Action Group which expressed its willingness to be considered ahead of foreign partners.
The empowerment group then implored government to intervene and ensure that local investors are not continuously sidelined in the disposal of local assets in favour of foreign investors.
It is the strategic importance of the cement manufacturing business to such a growing economy as Zimbabwe, whose growth is strongly anchored on the construction industry, that compels such critical assets to shift into the con troll of locals to allow for economic stability, sustainability and predictability. All these attributes are critical for building business confidence in the economy.
The sale of Lafarge to a local investor is a big victory for Zimbabwe following recent contentious sale of Barclays Bank assets to a Malawian investor before locals were afforded right to first refusal.
The same happened also with the sale of the country’s biggest Lithium discovery in recent years, the Arcadia Hard-Rock Lithium Mine by the Australia based Prospect Resources to Chinese Zheijiang Huatou Cobalt.
This deal happened also without the participation of local investors despite the inherent financial and skills potential among locals
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