Next stop, Nigeria: China cement giant Huaxin's African expansion spree

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