We have a potential acquisition to discuss this week in Sub-Saharan Africa. Heidelberg Materials is reportedly considering buying South Africa-based PPC. This marks a change to the recent trend of consolidation in core markets by western cement multinationals.
The detail, as reported by Bloomberg, is that Heidelberg Materials is in discussion with banks to appoint financial advisers in relation to a potential bid for PPC. No formal bid has been made at this stage and Heidelberg Materials has not commented. However, although PPC has not commented directly either, its CEO Matias Cardarelli previously said that “Against this backdrop, it would not be surprising if international cement players are beginning to view PPC as an increasingly attractive opportunity.” Heidelberg Materials joins other cement companies including AfriSam, CRH, Dangote Cement and Holcim in showing interest in PPC.
A key point to note here is that a Europe-based heavy building materials company is looking at buying assets outside of Europe or North America. Australia has been the focus of similar attention in recent years with acquisitions made by CRH, Heidelberg Materials and Holcim. Unlike Holcim though, Heidelberg Materials has retained operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, in West and East Africa respectively. Recent acquisitions in Africa include the purchase of a majority share of Morocco-based Asment in 2025, the purchase of a majority stake in
Tanzania-based Tanga Cement in 2023 and Morocco-based Cimsud in 2020. It sold its majority stake in Congo-based Cimenterie de Lukala to the WIH Cement Developing Company in 2025. It has also made some notable investments in its Africa-based portfolio, such as a large-scale calcined clay plant, in collaboration with CBI Ghana, which went into operation in mid-2025.
In addition to benefiting from the market in South Africa, buying PPC could also give Heidelberg Materials synergies with its current operations in Mozambique and Tanzania. In the former country it operates a grinding plant in Dondo, Sofala province. In the latter, it runs an integrated cement plant in Dar es Salaam and one in the north of the country. PPC, meanwhile, runs an integrated plant and a grinding plant in Zimbabwe and a grinding plant in Botswana. All of this put together could potentially give Heidelberg Materials a complimentary network of operations in southern and eastern Africa.
Figure 1: Map showing presence of Heidelberg Materials in ‘emerging markets’ (green). Countries in which PPC operates (red). Recent acquisitions by Heidelberg Materials include: Semen Grobogan, Indonesia (A); Asment Témara, Morocco (B); and Tanga Cement, Tanzania (C). Source: Heidelberg Materials with additions by Global Cement.
PPC appears to be spinning the reported attention by Heidelberg Materials as validation that its latest business strategy is working. Under the ‘Awaken the Giant’ plan, it is aiming to become the “leading cement leader in Southern Africa.” It has been able to reflect upon a strong set of financial results for the first 10 months of its financial year to the end of January 2026. Group revenue rose by 4% year-on-year, due to volume increases in Zimbabwe, compared to a slight fall in the 2025 financial year. Further financial gains are expected from the 2028 financial year onwards when the company’s new 1.5Mt/yr plant at its existing Western Cape site starts to enter commercial operation.
As ever with these kinds of market stories, it is uncertain to those on the outside of the offer process to work out when a particular deal becomes serious and how many other potential deals are also quietly being prepared for that we don’t hear about. As mentioned, PPC has been linked to a number of potential companies for merger and acquisition activity. Of these, the potential merger with AfriSam in the 2010s was probably the most prominent. In Africa the big names one might expect to be linked to a potential deal like this would be Dangote Cement and China-based Huaxin Cement. As for this potential deal, time will tell.
