Rising from a recent Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in Abuja, the Board of AshakaCem has approved the exchange of shares held by its minority shareholders for shares in Lafarge Africa, the majority shareholder.
In line with the new arrangement, minority shareholders will receive 57 Lafarge Africa shares for every 202 AshakaCem shares, meaning that AshakaCem is now, a fully owned subsidiary of Lafarge Africa.
Besides, the share reconstruction further offers its shareholders the window to liquidate their investments following the delisting of the Gombe-based cement maker from the trading floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange in July 2017.
Chief Financial Officer of Lafarge Africa, Bruno Bayet, in his remarks, said, “The minority shareholders of Ashaka now have the opportunity to be part of Lafarge Africa with total installed production capacity of over 14 million metric tonnes per annum and strong growth prospects.”
According to him, within the nine-month period ended in September 2017, Lafarge Africa reported a four-fold increase in operating margins as its net sales increased by 39 per cent to N223.7bn.
In her submission, the Chairman of AshakaCem, Edith Onwuchekwa, explained during the EGM that “the erection of a 16 megawatts coal, fired captive power plant at Ashaka is nearing completion and will significantly ensure the stability of electric power to the plant and the optimisation of our energy costs at the plant.”
This is as the Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge Africa, Mr. Michel Puchercos, stressed that “We remain committed to Ashaka in good times and in bad times because we have a long-term view of our investments.
“Ashaka cement as a brand has for decades become synonymous with housing and infrastructural solutions in the entire north.” We shall maintain that legacy of quality even in the face of temporary setbacks.”
Puchercos was quick to maintain that even though AshakaCem is currently a 100 per cent subsidiary of Lafarge Africa; the firm will have its own board of directors, noting that products sales under the name AshakaCem, would continue in the northern part of the country because of the strong brand loyalty.
