Senate panel summons Lafarge Africa over ‘planned divestment of shares to Chinese investors’

The senate committee on capital market has summoned the management of Lafarge Africa Plc over the planned divestment of 83.8 percent majority shares held by its parent company in the Nigerian cement industry.

The resolution was made on Wednesday by the committee during an interactive session with key regulators.

The committee had earlier engaged officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) over reports of an alleged sale of Lafarge Africa to Chinese investors.

Abdulkafir Abbas, the director of securities and investment services at SEC, said the commission had not received any formal filing regarding the proposed sale.

Abbas said the SEC was informed of an internal restructuring by Holcim Group, the Swiss firm that holds 83.81 percent of Lafarge Africa’s issued share capital.

“Holcim Group holds 83.81 percent of Lafarge Africa Plc’s issued share capital through the following wholly owned entities,” Abbas said.

“As part of the internal restructuring, the 27.77 percent equity stake held by Associated International Cement Limited was transferred to another Holcim-owned entity, Davis Peak Holdings Limited.

“There has been no change in the ultimate beneficial ownership of the shares as a result of this transaction.”

Speaking on behalf of the BPE, Satura Aisha Bello, director of post-transaction management, said the shares being divested belong to Lafarge and not to the 16.19 percent stake held by Nigerians.

Bello said Lafarge, which is listed on the Nigerian exchange, acquired 83 percent of the total shares of three federal government-owned cement companies during the privatisation exercises of 2001 and 2002.

She noted that the company has not tampered with the shares allocated to the Nigerian public.

Osita Izunaso, senate committee chairman on the capital market, said Lafarge Africa must appear before the senate to clarify the divestment plan.

The committee also directed its clerk to write to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for details of Lafarge Africa’s memorandum and articles of association concerning shareholding divestment.

In a letter dated April 23 and addressed to the clerk of the national assembly, Emomotimi Agama, director general (DG) of SEC, said the agency has not received any formal notice regarding the sale of Lafarge Africa to Chinese investors.