Public Investment Corporation of South Africa (PIC) Monday bought 255,607,605 shares or 1.5 per cent of Dangote Cement Plc for N45.75 billion.
PIC is owned 100 per cent by South African government and it has funds valued at $115 billion under its management.
Although no explanation was given by Dangote Cement regarding the acquisition, PIC is now holding 1.5 per cent of the 5.11 per cent of the company’s shares available for trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). DCP has a paid-up share capital of 17.04 billion. But only 5.11 per cent is made available to the investment public while Dangote Industries Limited holds 94.89 per cent.
Market analysts said the transaction might be strategic considering the fact Dangote Cement already had a plant in South Africa as part of its pan African expansion. Dangote Cement owns 67 of Sephaku Cement, a 2.5 million tonnes per annum integrated plant that is expected to be inaugurated in first quarter of 2014.
The transaction in shares of Dangote Cement boosted the overall volume and value on the bourse to a record high, hitting 735.288 million shares valued at N50.956 billion.
The last time the NSE recorded a similar large transaction was last October when another company in the Dangote Group, Dangote Flour Mills Plc sold 63 per cent equity to another South African firm, Tiger Brands. The transaction amounted to N30.1 billion.
