Nigerian Dangote buys into S. Africa cement firm

By Tume Ahemba

LAGOS, April 10 (Reuters) - Nigeria's leading industrial conglomerate, Dangote Group, has acquired a 45 percent stake in South Africa's Sephaku Cement for 3 billion rand ($378 million) through a private placement, the two parties said on Thursday.

The cash from the strategic partnership will help finance the building of a 2.2 million tonnes per year cement plant in South Africa that is expected to start production by mid 2010, they said in a statement.

The deal is the latest move by Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote, Africa's most successful businessman, who controls about two-thirds of the Nigerian cement market, to expand his interests in the world's poorest continent.

Sephaku Cement is a subsidiary of Sephaku Holdings Ltd, a South African minerals exploration, development and investment company. The cement firm plans to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in September after road shows to raise 1.2 billion rand.

"The partnership will provide Sephaku Cement with the necessary funding and technical expertise to expedite the construction of their new cement plant without affecting their status as a black owned and controlled cement company," the statement quoted Lelau Mohuba, the firm's chairman as saying.

Dangote signed contracts worth $1.2 billion in February with China's Sinoma International to built cement plants in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Senegal and Zambia.

Sinoma and Dangote also signed another contract in February worth $1.6 billion to build six cement production lines in Nigeria, the Chinese firm said in a statement on its Web site.

Dangote commissioned two cement plants last May in central Nigeria with a combined capacity of 8 million tonnes a year, after it first bought control of the Benue Cement Company (BCEM.LG).

The Nigerian company's other interests include the manufacture of sugar, flour, salt and spaghetti, as well as hydrocarbons, shipping and telecommunications. The firm listed two of its subsidiaries on the Nigerian Stock Exchange last year. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/) (Editing by Pascal Fletcher, Paul Bolding)