Orascom Construction Industries announced that it has finalised negotiations for the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Chakwal Cement Company Limited listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, which owns the property and equipment for a 2.2Mta cement plant located in the Punjab Province in Northern Pakistan.
The plant is expected to serve Punjab, Pakistan’s most populated province (90 million people). The plant equipment was supplied by FL Smidth of Denmark. The OCI Construction Group will perform construction work on the plant, which will require a construction and assembly period of 15 months. This new acquisition will raise the annual production capacity of the OCI Cement Group to 15Mt by mid-2006. OCI has previously announced that it aims to raise the capacity of its cement group to 20Mt by 2007.
OCI Chief Executive Officer, Nassef Sawiris commented "this acquisition is in line with our strategy to expand our production capacity in key emerging markets. The acquisition will be at an investment cost which maintains our competitiveness and ensures a significant return to shareholders.
“Through CCCL, OCI will gain access to a promising cement market where per capita cement consumption is close to 90 kg compared to around 370 kg in Egypt, which indicates significant room for growth”.
