By ETimes
Cement buyers in Zimbabwe may be confused the next time they want to buy their cement at Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Limited, as it has been renamed.
After many years in existence, during which it has grown to be one of the state’s largest cement producers, Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Limited changed its name to Khayah Cement following the exit of previous major shareholder Associated International Cement.
“The Board of Directors of Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Limited would like to inform shareholders and valued stakeholders that following the exit of Associated International Cement Limited from the business, the company will now be trading as Khayah Cement pending finalization of the registration of the trade name by the Registrar of Companies,” the company said in a statement.
At one point, the business was formerly known as Circle Cement.
In December 2022, the Fossil Group, which consists of Fossil Agro and Fossil Contracting, was subject to sanctions from the US government, along with the owner of the business, Obey Chimuka. The US actions were taken only a few weeks after Fossil Group’s Fossil Mining purchased Lafarge for US$29.7 million.
The second-largest cement firm in Zimbabwe after PPC Zimbabwe, Lafarge, was up for sale, and Fossil beat out other interested parties, including China’s Huaxin.
“The company is reconstituting the composition of the board of directors as well as the necessary board committees. In this latter regard, the announcement of the relevant appointments will be made shortly.”
“The public is advised that these processes will have no material effect on either the quality or availability of any of the company’s range of products as well as its overall operations,” reads part of the statement.
Lafarge accounted for the bulk of stocks sold on the local bourse, leading net sellers with shares worth $19.1 billion in 2022.
According to African ‘Xchanges, Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe is the third most traded stock on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange over the past three months (Oct 12, 2022 – Jan 12, 2023). LACZ has traded a total volume of 61.2 million shares valued at ZWL 7.65 billion over the period, with an average of 970,900 traded shares per session. A volume high of 61.2 million was achieved on December 1st for the same period – Harare