Tanzanian conglomerate Amsons Group has made a record $180mn (KShs. 23.32bn) binding offer for 100% ownership of Bamburi Cement, valuing the listed cement manufacturer at Shs. 65 per share.
- •Amsons Group is a Tanzanian family-owned business conglomerate founded in 2006 and with over $1bn in annual turnover.
- •Its main business is in bulk oil and petroleum importation, but it has interests in cement manufacturing, wheat flour milling, LPG and transportation.
- •Bamburi Cement is majority owned (58%) by Swiss-based Holcim (formerly LaFarge Holcim), with the rest of its shares listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
“We have great plans to deepen our investment in Kenya and in Bamburi,” Edha Nahdi, Amsons Group Managing Director said in a statement, “Our offer to acquire shares in Bamburi is part of our corporate market expansion plan and will mark the formal entry of Amsons Group into the Kenyan market, where we plan to make investments in other industries in the coming months.”
This would not be the first such deal between Bamburi Cement’s majority shareholder and Amsons Group. Last November, Holcim agreed to sell its 65% in Mbeya Cement Company Ltd in Tanzania to Amsons Group. Holcim also exited its Uganda business, Hima Cement, by offloading Bamburi Cement’s 70% stake to Sarrai Group for $120mn.
“This agreement to sell our stake in Bamburi Cement advances Holcim’s strategy of extending our leadership in our core markets as the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions,” Martin Kriegner, Holcim’s Regional Head of Asia, Middle East & Africa.
Holcim’s exit from East African markets is likely to raise questions about its overall strategy. The company is the largest cement manufacturer in the world, after it merged with its rival LaFarge in 2014 in a $60bn “merger of equals.” As part of the merger, Holcim acquired LaFarge’s 58.6% shareholding in Bamburi, then held equally through two subsidiaries: Fincem Holding Ltd and Kencem Ltd.
In Tanzania, Amsons Group manufactures cement under the brands “Camel Cement” and “Tembo Cement” and has a 6,000 MT/day manufacturing capacity.On its website, the company says it has created 1700 jobs directly and 2, 000 indirectly across the four markets it is presently in. It is present in Tanzania, Congo, Mozambique, and Zambia.
The offer represents a 44% premium over Bamburi’s closing share price on July 10th, 2024.