CRH considers making an offer to acquire controlling stake in PPC

SHARES in PPC dropped by 4.93 percent yesterday to close at R6.37 after the JSE-listed cement and lime producer reported receiving interest from another suitor to acquire a majority stake in the company.

PPC said Dublin-based CRH, a diversified international building materials company listed on the London, Dublin and New York stock exchanges and with a market capitalisation of €27 billion (R452.4bn), had indicated that it was considering submitting an all-cash proposal to acquire a controlling stake in PPC.

This is at least the fourth proposal or expression of interest from companies interested in a merger or acquiring a stake in PPC, although one offer from Dangote Cement, Africa’s biggest cement producer, was subsequently withdrawn.

PPC late last month reported that it had received a credible expression of interest from LafargeHolcim to combine some of their African assets.

This followed PPC in September reporting that apart from an offer from AfriSam and Fairfax Africa, it had received two indicative proposals from other unidentified industry players looking to achieve Pan-African combinations.

PPC said yesterday that in an effort to align the CRH process with that of LafargeHolcim and Fairfax, its independent board intended to provide CRH with an initial period to conduct due diligence of PPC and next week submit, if it decided to, an updated expression of interest that included a value per share for PPC.

The company added that the PPC process in respect of the Fairfax partial offer announced in September was still proceeding in line with the previously announced independent board process and concurrently with engagements with LafargeHolcim and CRH.

PPC warned that the engagements with CRH and LafargeHolcim may or may not lead to the submission of firm-intention letters.

It advised PPC shareholders to continue to exercise caution when dealing in securities of PPC until a further announcement was made.