PPC Acquisition Talks in Preliminary Stage – Dangote

• PPC Acquisition Talks in Preliminary Stage

Dangote Cement Plc says communications with PPC Limited of South Africa with respect to the acquisition of PPC is in its preliminary stage.

The company made this clarification in a letter filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

“In light of the foregoing, the DCP hereby confirms that the board of directors of the DCP has merely communicated its interest to the board of directors of PPC with respect to the acquisition of the entire share capital of PPC. This communication is still at the preliminary stage,” the letter read in part.

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is among those considering counteroffers for PPC Limited that could signal a bidding contest for South Africa’s largest cement maker, according to people familiar with the matter.

Dangote Cement sees a bid for the Johannesburg-based company as a way to accelerate expansion outside its home market of Nigeria, the people, who asked not to be named as the matter is private, told Bloomberg on Friday.

PPC will consider any rival offers to the joint approach by Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited and domestic rival, AfriSam Group Pty Limited, and present them to shareholders in early October, one of the people said.

PPC shares jumped by 2.9 per cent to 6.38 rand as of 3:30pm in Johannesburg on Friday, on track for the highest on a closing basis since April 25. That values the company at 10.2 billion rand ($792m).

LafargeHolcim Limited, the world’s biggest cement maker based in Jona, Switzerland, and Germany’s HeidelbergCement AG were also monitoring PPC’s situation, the people said.

Titan Cement Co. SA of Greece is looking at the South African company, according to one of the people. The cement makers’ interest was sparked after Toronto-based Fairfax offered to buy two billion rand of PPC’s shares and support a merger with AfriSam earlier this week, the people said. The proposal “significantly undervalued” the business, PPC said at the time.