Dangote Cement Plc, one of Africa’s biggest producer of building materials and Nigeria’s largest company, is looking at expanding in three South American countries and has signed a preliminary joint-venture agreement with one company, Dangote Group Executive Director Devakumar Edwin said.
“The countries we’re looking at have huge natural resources and growth,” said Edwin, declining to name the nations so as not to alert competitors. “There are many large players in that region that may easily try to shut down entry to new players, but there’s still large scope of doing business,” said Edwin, who is also the chief executive officer of the cement business.
Dangote Cement, with a market capitalization of 3.8 trillion naira ($23.8 billion), has three plants in Nigeria and plans to expand in 13 other African countries, bringing total capacity to more than 50 million tons by 2016.
The company is also expanding in Asia and has signed limestone mining rights in Indonesia and Nepal, Edwin said.
Dangote will delay a planned listing of its cement company’s shares on the London Stock Exchange until at least next year when plants in countries including Cameroon, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Zambia are commissioned, Edwin said.
