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Business Reporter
NIGERIAN billionaire Mr Aliko Dangote, through his Dangote Cement Plc has withdrawn his proposed bid to acquire the entire share of regional cement maker Pretoria Portland Cement.
PPC is South Africa’s largest cement producing company and operates 11 cement factories in South Africa, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
On 14 September, PPC announced that it had received a non-binding communication of interest from Dangote Cement Plc with respect to a proposed combination involving the acquisition by Dangote of the entire issued capital of PPC.
However, Dangote Cement wrote again to PPC shareholders on Thursday advising that the company was withdrawing from the proposed offer.
“Shareholders are advised that, on 5 October 2017, the Board received from Dangote a formal withdrawal of its interest in respect of the Proposed Combination,” PPC said on Friday.
PPC, however, added that its shareholders were still evaluating another offer from Canadian insurer FairfaxAfrica Investments Proprietary Limited.
“Notwithstanding such withdrawal, in view of the partial offer by FairfaxAfrica Investments Proprietary Limited, and ongoing engagement regarding a credible indicative proposal for a potential pan-African combination with PPC,” the company added.
In Zimbabwe, PPC, last year in November commissioned an $82 million plant in Harare, doubling its capacity to 1,4 million. PPC has two other plants in Zimbabwe, in Bulawayo and Colleen Bawn near Gwanda with production capacity of 700 000 tonnes annually.
Mr Dangote also had expressed interest in investing in Zimbabwe when he visited the country in 2015.
The Zimbabwe Investment Authority later that year announced that it had licensed three projects worth $1,2 billion for Mr Dangote.
The three projects were a cement manufacturing plant, a coal mining venture and energy or power plant using coal off take production.
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