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For about four years, China's Huaxin Cement has been acquiring or building manufacturing operations in six African countries - part of an overseas expansion spree to hedge against shrinking profit margins at home.
The next stop is Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, where Huaxin is set to buy an 84 per cent stake in Swiss building materials maker Holcim's shares in Lafarge Africa, in a deal worth US$1 billion.
Lafarge Africa operates four cement plants in Nigeria, with a combined capacity of 10.35 million tonnes per year.
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According to data from this year's Global Cement Directory, Huaxin has 10 cement plants in sub-Saharan Africa with a production capacity of about 18 million tonnes per year.
The Nigerian deal will position Huaxin as sub-Saharan Africa's second largest cement producer, but it will be up against a well-established local giant - Dangote Cement, the biggest in Africa, with a capacity of 52 million tonnes per year across 10 countries.
Huaxin, which is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, says Nigeria "offers attractive growth perspectives" as its domestic market faces thin margins. The transaction is expected to conclude next year, subject to regulatory approvals.
In a statement to investors earlier this month, Huaxin Cement's chairman Xu Yongmo said the company's overseas expansion aims to "effectively counterbalance the decline in the domestic market".
"With its low per capita consumption of cement of only 140kg (308lbs), favourable industry structure, and the positive outlook of the construction industry, Nigeria offers attractive growth perspectives for the cement industry," he said.
Holcim owns a major stake in Huaxin but has been offloading some of its African operations to the Wuhan-based cement maker as part of its divestment from noncore assets.
The acquisition in Nigeria would be Huaxin's second from Lafarge Africa. In 2021, the Chinese company acquired a 75 per cent stake in Lafarge's Zambia operation and 100 per cent of Lafarge Cement Malawi.
It will also make Nigeria the seventh country that Huaxin Cement entered since its first foray into Africa in 2020, when it acquired Maweni Limestone Ltd in Tanzania from ARM Cement.
Huaxin has added other African assets - in Mozambique and South Africa, as well as building a cement plant in Zimbabwe - over the years, which have seen declining demand for construction materials in China following a protracted property crisis and slow economic recovery.