Regulators, shareholders and a court have given approval to a planned merger between the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria and BUA Cement, the companies have said.
Approvals came from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, and the shareholders, the companies said in an emailed statement made available to BusinessDay Monday.
With this, the shares of the expanded entity are expected to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, they said.
The merger raises the total installed capacity of the merged entity to two million metric tonnes per annum, according to the statement. The development also brings the total capacity of BUA’s cement operations to eight million million tonnes per annum, following the group’s recent completion of its three million MTP Obu II Cement Plant in Okpella, Edo State, it said.
The expanded CCNN will remain the market leader in its regional market of North West Nigeria, the third largest market for cement in Nigeria by consumption, the statement quoted Abdul Samad Rabiu, Founder/Executive Chairman of BUA Group, as saying. The company will also continue its exploration of opportunities in the export markets of Niger, Burkina Faso and the west African region, he Rabiu added.
“Traditionally, the huge cost of transportation to CCNN’s home region from other cement plants in Nigeria – the nearest being about 900 km away – has always given us a strategic advantage in that region over competing cement companies and brands,” Rabiu said.
Vincent Nwanma
