Between the Chains
Between the Chains: Deep in the concrete jungle
Both SA’s largest cement producers are drowning in over capacity and lack of demand. They’d be stronger as a combined force, writes Sikonathi Mantshantsha. At 575c, the share price of Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) is about a 10th of the R51 it hit nine years ago. Afrisam, acquired in a debt-laden R23bn deal in 2007, is bleeding jobs and struggling to survive. Both entities have since sucked up billions in shareholder bailouts. Yet there is still no light in the cement tunnel. The exuberance that propelled inexperienced industry outsiders to wage a bitter political and public relations battle to secure control of the SA operations of Holcim at the top of the market is long gone. That company, now called Afrisam, has since restructured its debt pile numerous times and received a few bailouts from the Public Investment Corp (PIC). That was the part that it could control. What Afrisam could not control was the entry of two new competitors into SA: Sephaku Cement and Mamba Cement. That ...
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