(Ecofin Agency) - As bids increase and many companies are joining talks to acquire stakes in South Africa’s leading cement producer, Dangote Cement is supposedly getting ready to buy PPC Group, according to various South African media.

The competition will be rude for the Nigerian tycoon considering that it will be facing giants like LafargeHolcim and Heidelberg, respectively number one and two of the sector worldwide or Greek firm Titan Cement. Besides, the AfriSam-Fairfax pair is also running for the stakes.

In the past two years, the AfriSam-PPC series has recorded multiple twists, and last August ending, Canadian investment fund Fairfax has decided to also star in it, providing a two billion rands offer for buy the cement manufacturer. Not much appealing according to South Africa’s largest pension fund and PPC’s biggest stakeholder, Public Investment Cop, the joint offer from AfriSam and Fairfax is about to be revised to better fit the taste of the cement producer’s shareholders.

To rival its competitors, the Dangote group plans to sell part or all of its assets in Sephaku, to another Pretoria-based cement maker, in order to successfully take over PPC, which is valued at more than $792 million.

Fiacre E. Kakpo