Dangote, Sinoma Sign $4.34Bn Africa Cement Plant Deals

Dangote Cement signed contracts worth $4.34 billion on Wednesday with China's Sinoma International Engineering Co. to build cement plants across Africa, as Nigeria's largest listed firm expands.

The company, majority-owned by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, has developed operations outside its dominant Nigerian home market in the last few years.

The plants to be built in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia, with another in Nepal, would add around 25 million tonnes to the company's existing capacity of around 45 million tonnes, said Dangote.

"The projects are going to be delivered within the next 30 months," said Dangote, who added he expected production capacity to have reached 70 million tonnes within that timeframe.

"We are not going to stop there. By 2020 we are targeting 100 million tonnes," he said.

In July, Dangote Cement said the contribution to sales outside Nigeria grew to 14 percent of total revenue by June 30 from 3 percent a year ago.

The company faces intense competition, particularly from main rival Lafarge Africa, which combined its South Africa operation with its publicly traded Nigerian business last year to accelerate growth on the continent.