Displaying items by tag: Tanzania

Tanzania: Elsawy Ahmed has resigned as the manager of Twiga Cement’s Wazo Hill plant. He had been in post at the subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials since 2017. He is now working as a technical consultant.

Elsawy started his career as a Quality Control Supervisor for Assiut Cement in Egypt. He later worked for Cemex Egypt and became a plant manager for Cemex in Bangladesh in the early 2000s. He joined Italcementi in 2006 becoming Maintenance & Project Manager for subsidiary Suez Cement in the mid-2010s. Elsawy holds a degree in chemistry from Assiut University.

This week Aliko Dangote retired as the chair of Dangote Cement. It’s a big deal, as Dangote founded parent company Dangote Industries in 1981 as an importer of bagged cement and other commodities such as rice, sugar, flour and salt. Over 40 years later Dangote Cement is the biggest cement company in Africa with a reported capacity of 52Mt/yr, operations in at least 10 countries and annual revenues of US$2.3bn. Dangote personally has also become Africa’s richest inhabitant along the way. It’s an extraordinary achievement.

As CEO Arvind Pathak, said in the company’s half-year report, “We celebrate our president, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who now steps down from the board, for his pivotal and transformative role in shaping the company’s growth, success, and lasting legacy. His visionary leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, and unwavering commitment laid the very foundation of our journey. Under his guidance, the company achieved remarkable milestones, expanded its footprint, and set new standards of excellence across the industry.” Dangote is aged 68 years and his successor as chair of Dangote Cement, Emmanuel Ikazoboh, is aged 76 years.

The key acquisitions started in 2000, when the company purchased a controlling stake in Benue Cement following its privatisation. Then, in 2002, it bought Obajana Cement and started up its first production line at the site by 2007. Obajana has since become the group’s largest plant in Nigeria with a production capacity of 16.3Mt/yr across four lines. The company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2010. Dangote Cement set up other plants in Nigeria and the Cement Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (CMAN) declared that the country was ‘self-sufficient’ in cement in 2012. Dangote the cement importer had become Dangote the cement producer. Then it became Dangote the cement exporter when it established its first overseas cement terminal in Ghana in 2011. Finally, it became Dangote the cement multinational when production plants outside of Nigeria started to be built in the early 2000s with units in Senegal and South Africa starting up in 2014. Today, in 2025, Dangote Cement has operations in Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

Naturally, one doesn’t build a conglomerate as large and successful as Dangote Industries without dividing opinion along the way. Issues on the cement side of the business include criticism of how Dangote managed to beat his rivals to buy government-run cement companies in the early 2000s. To be fair to Dangote though, other companies including Blue Circle and HeidelbergCement did the same thing at this time. Arguments about this issue resurfaced publicly in 2022 when the Kogi State Government took Dangote Cement to court over its ownership of the Obajana plant in relation to tax revenue.

Another issue in Nigeria in recent years has been repeated arguments about the price of cement. Despite the country becoming ‘self-sufficient’ in cement, the cost has prompted scrutiny by legislators. Meanwhile, Dangote Cement has continued to make handsome profits year after year. Outside of Nigeria, Dangote’s expansion plans haven’t always gone smoothly. Its plans to open a plant in Kenya, for example, appear to have been stymied repeatedly. Infamously, Dangote himself allegedly described Kenya as being more corrupt than Nigeria to Kenyan media. A long heralded listing on the London Stock Exchange never happened and acquisitions outside of Africa are yet to occur. Looking forward, future challenges include newer entrants into the Sub-Saharan African cement such as those from China. A sign of challenges to come include the pending acquisition of Lafarge Africa by Huaxin Cement as China continues to attempt to export its cement production ambitions.

As Aliko Dangote steps down as chair from his cement business, the potential for both his company and the continent it is based in remains high. Demographic factors favour economic growth in Africa in the 21st Century due to its growing population and need for development. This will require plenty of cement and Dangote Cement is well positioned to supply it.

And finally… some people take up gardening in their retirement. Should Dangote become bored in his retirement from the cement business though he could consider the example of the former CEO of Ireland-based CRH. It was announced last week that Albert Manifold has been appointed as the chair of oil and gas company BP. Dangote Group already operates an oil refinery. Perhaps future opportunities beckon.

Tanzania: Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPC), also known as Twiga Cement, has acquired a 95% stake in limestone extractor Mamba Cement from UAE-based Sura Holdings for US$15.9m. The acquisition secures access to major limestone deposits 125km from the TPC plant in Dar es Salaam, addressing limited reserves at its current Tegeta–Wazo Hill quarry. Twiga Cement said “The acquisition was done with the intention of vertical integration of Mamba Cement’s operations with TPC.”

TPC recorded a net profit of US$21.5m in 2024, down from US$37.6m in 2023. Sales fell by 8.5% year-on-year to US$170m, while clinker production declined by 1% and cement output rose by 0.3%. The dividend is expected to be approved and paid in June 2025. Tanzania’s cement market had 13 plants operating below 60% capacity utilisation as of December 2024.

Tanzania: Cement production reached 10.9Mt in 2024 against domestic demand of 8.5Mt/yr, according to Industry and Trade Minister Seleman Jafo. The Guardian newspaper reports that the resulting surplus of 2.43Mt was exported to Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. Key exporters included Dangote Industries, Tanzania Portland Cement, Lake Cement, Mbeya Cement and Tanga Cement. The sector reportedly created 12,500 jobs, comprising 5220 direct and 17,280 indirect roles.

Tanzania: Mbeya Cement has appointed Ahmed Mhadaas as its CEO.

Mhadaas joined the cement producer in 2020 as its chief financial officer. He holds over 15 years’ experience working in manufacturing, telecommunications and mining. Roles in the cement sector include financial roles for Tanga Cement and LafargeHolcim Tanzania, before it was acquired by Amsons Group. He has also worked for Airtel Tanzania, Saint-Gobain and Tanzania Cigarette. He holds a degree in commerce from the University of Dar es Salaam, a master’s of business administration (MBA) qualification from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the US and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Tanzania/Kenya: Savannah Clinker has abandoned its US$198m bid to acquire Bamburi Cement, leaving Tanzania-based Amsons Group as the sole bidder with an offer of US$168m. The withdrawal followed the exit of Savannah Clinker’s financier, Global Infrastructure Finance & Development Authority, due to the arrest of chair Savannah Ndeta on suspicion of fraud and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) declining a 60-day extension request.

A spokesperson for Savannah Clinker said "The withdrawal of the competing offer has been occasioned by the recent well-publicised arrest and indictment of the chair and main shareholder of Savannah, Benson Ndeta, which has led to the financier of the competing offer seeking additional due diligence. This is further compounded by the CMA’s decision to decline a request made on 2 December 2024 to extend the offer period by 60 days."

Huaxin Cement revealed this week that it is buying Holcim’s majority stake in Lafarge Africa for US$1bn. The moment marks a big step in the China-based cement producer’s international ambitions. It has been linked in the financial media to many divestments around the world in recent years. Yet this appears to be its largest acquisition so far and it adds to what is becoming a serious sized multinational business in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The details of the deal are that Holcim has agreed to sell its 83% share of Lafarge Africa to Huaxin Cement. Lafarge Africa operates four integrated cement plants in Nigeria at Sagamu and Ewekoro in Ogun State, at Mfamosing in Cross River State and the Ashaka Cement plant in Gombe State. It has a combined production capacity of 10.5Mt/yr. The transaction is expected to close in 2025 subject to regulatory approvals.

Holcim holds a relationship with Huaxin Cement that dates back to the late 1990s when it first bought a stake in the company. Following the formation of LafargeHolcim in the mid-2010s, Lafarge’s subsidiary Lafarge China Cement was sold to Huaxin Cement. At the end of 2023 Holcim reported that it owned just under a 42% share in the company. Huaxin Cement has also bought assets from Holcim as the latter company has divested subsidiaries over the last decade. In 2021 it bought Lafarge Zambia and Pan African Cement in Malawi from Holcim. This adds to other acquisitions in the region. In 2020 it purchased African Tanzanian Maweni Limestone from ARM Cement. Later in 2023 it picked up InterCement’s subsidiaries in Mozambique and South Africa. In addition, in October 2024 local media in Zimbabwe reported that the company was planning to build a grinding plant. Now, throw in the plants in Nigeria and Huaxin Cement is the second biggest cement producer in Sub-Saharan Africa after Dangote Cement.

Huaxin Cement said it had an overseas cement grinding capacity of just under 21Mt/yr at the end of 2023. However, this figure included plants in Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Oman, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Data from the Global Cement Directory 2024 suggests that the company now has 10 integrated cement plants in Sub-Saharan Africa with a cement capacity of around 18Mt/yr. It also operates a number of grinding plants in these countries.

The Lafarge Africa deal is significant because a mainland China-based cement producer has finally hit the US$1bn window in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity overseas. Many potential acquisitions in the sector are linked by the press to Chinese companies these days. However, most of the activity to date has been of a plant-by-plant or piecemeal nature. Alternatively, these companies have been building their own plants around the world as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) has spent more buying itself into Türkiye-based OYAK Cement since 2018 but it is headquartered in Taipei.

The question from here is how much further does Huaxin Cement plan to expand both in Africa and beyond? The obvious answer is that it will keep going given the state of the cement sector back home in China, the retreat of the western multinationals and the demographic trends in the region. World population growth is predicted to be fastest in Africa in the coming decades and demand for cement should follow. Outside of Africa, the ‘big’ one recently has been InterCement in Brazil. Unfortunately for Huaxin Cement though, InterCement extended its exclusivity deal with Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) in November 2024. If the Lafarge Africa transaction completes then it will be the biggest deal yet and it will welcome a China-based cement company to the big league of international M&A. It may just be the start.

Kenya: Amsons Group, a Tanzanian business conglomerate with interests in power, construction, cement and concrete, has received regulatory approval from Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa’s (Comesa) Competition Commission for its proposed acquisition of up to 100% of Bamburi Cement. The commission confirmed that the proposed acquisition falls within its ambit and does not pose a competition risk within the common market, with a statement saying “It is unlikely that the proposed merger will lead to the creation of a dominant position that would enable the parties to engage in unilateral conduct in the market.”

In July 2024 Amsons Group issued a binding offer to acquire up to a 100% stake in Bamburi Cement through its Kenyan subsidiary and investment vehicle, Amsons Industries (K) Ltd.

Speaking as he welcomed the Comesa Competition Commission’s approval, Amsons Group CEO Edha Nahdi said that the transaction is part of the group’s strategy to expand its footprint to the Kenyan market and trade across East Africa, saying “The approval is a significant boost to our offer as we continue to engage investors of Bamburi Cement. We remain confident that our acquisition bid will be successful as it presents a win-win scenario for the investors and our two countries.”

When we think about ‘up and coming’ regions for the global cement sector, Africa is high on many people’s lists. This is unsurprising given that Africa is the youngest continent on Earth, with a population set to boom to 2.5 billion by 2050 – or 1 in 4 of the global population for that year, according to the UN. This population, 1 billion higher than today, will drive rapid urbanisation. Cement capacities, currently around 350Mt/yr across the continent, will have to rise substantially to meet demand.

Filling part of this rise will be Amsons Group. This week it announced plans for a US$320m investment in a 1.6Mt/yr greenfield cement plant in Tanzania. It also promised a whopping US$400m to revamp Bamburi Cement in Kenya, should its existing US$180m bid for the Holcim subsidiary be accepted. Based on the numbers for Tanzania, this investment might be enough to take Bamburi Cement from 1.1Mt/yr to around 3Mt/yr, assuming similar project scope and equipment suppliers.

So, what is Amsons Group? Founded in 2000, Amsons is a Tanzania-based conglomerate with interests in construction, transport, flour, container depots, cement and concrete. It already operates Camel Cement, a grinding plant, in the Mbagala suburb of Dar es Salaam and it owns a 65% stake in the 1.1Mt/yr integrated Mbeya Cement plant, which it bought from Holcim in September 2023. The group’s website states that it emphasises local production of materials to reduce the nation’s reliance on imports. A greenfield cement plant fits right into that philosophy.

Looking at recent market trends, we see some positive news for Amsons. In Tanzania, cement production rose by 6.2% to 8Mt in 2023, according to the country’s Ministry of Industry. This followed a 9.7% rise in the prior year. Data is so far lacking for 2024. To the north, cement consumption ramped up strongly in Kenya in the second half of 2023, following a less than stellar start to the year. Thanks to a particularly strong June to September period, consumption finally ended 2023 around 0.8% higher than the previous year, at 9.6Mt. However, consumption tailed off in the final quarter. Worse, the first four months of 2024 - the most recent data available from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics - saw a 10% decline in cement consumption relative to the same period of 2023, falling to 2.6Mt/yr.

As Africa lacks cement capacity compared to other regions, it is important to highlight that Amsons’ new plants will have to take on not just existing capacity in East Africa, but countries that export to the continent too. Indeed, this week Pakistan, a long-time agitator of South African cement producers, reported a year-on-year rise in exports for October 2024. Exports rose to 4.36Mt, a 9% increase compared to 4Mt in October 2023. This news comes amid precipitously falling domestic demand within Pakistan, with September 2024 shipments down by 22% year-on-year. It is also worth noting that Tanzania itself exported around 1.1Mt of cement to Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, the DRC and Zambia in 2023. This figure will likely be higher in 2024, given the February 2024 launch of Huaxin Cement Tanzania Maweni Company’s 1.3Mt/yr plant in Mavini, which has a focus on exports.

This apparent abundance of existing capacity, plus exposure to imports, would appear to give an investor like Amsons Group pause for thought. However, it has committed to a total investment of US$900m. This is not small change. If we add in the money it paid for Mbeya Cement in September 2023 – the amount was not disclosed – Amsons will likely shell out more than US$1bn in just a few years. It is going ‘all in’ to become, in the words of its Managing Director Edha Nahdi, “one of the largest cement manufacturers in Kenya and Tanzania by 2030.” It will be very interesting to follow it on its journey.

Tanzania/Kenya: Amsons Group will build a US$320m cement plant in northern Tanzania's Tanga area with a production capacity of 5,000t/day, Bloomberg reports. The company also plans to implement a major upgrade at the recently acquired Mbeya Cement in Tanzania, including a new grinding mill, according to Capital News Kenya. Additionally, Amsons plans to invest US$400m in Holcim’s Kenyan subsidiary Bamburi Cement, contingent on its successful US$180m bid.

Edha Nahdi, managing director at Amsons Group, said "Thanks to the support of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments, our regional expansion plans are now firmly on course. We plan to be one of the largest cement manufacturers in Kenya and Tanzania by 2030."