ARM Cement's Tanzania unit acquired by Chinese firm as court approves Devki's acquisition of Kenya business

Athi River Mining’s Tanzanian unit, Maweni Limestone was recently bought by Chinese Cement Factory Huaxin Cement. The subsidiary was sold for ksh 11.9 billion.

In a statement by the joint administrators George Weru and Muniu Thoithi, the transaction was to allow Huaxin immediate entry in one of the leading markets in Africa and is a very important part for Huaxin company’s strategy to expand across emerging markets.

Huaxin company was among the four companies that had submitted bidding offers to acquire ARM Cement Tanzania’a unit. The others are; Dangote Cement, Mega Conglomerate and National Standard.

The acquisition was subject to certain requirements including regulatory approvals. This acquisition was made after the sale of the assets at ARM cement Kenya to Devki Group’s National Cement earlier in May 2019.

The court recently gave Pricewatercoopers (PWC) the go-ahead to sell the ARM business for ksh 5 billion, Giving a total sum gained from disposal of the cement’s assets to ksh 16.9 billion.

Jawabt Rai lost the bid to but Arm Cement Kenyan Unit to his rival Narendra Raval of National cement. He lost over suspicions of consortium between Mr Rai and former Arm Chief Executive Officer Pradeep Purana.

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