By Kede Aihie
Swiss exit marks shift to Chinese ownership for one of Nigeria’s biggest cement producers.
Lafarge Africa Plc has officially become HBM Nigeria Plc, completing a rebrand that follows the $1 billion sale of the Swiss Holcim Group’s controlling stake to China’s Huaxin Cement Co. Shareholders approved the name change on April 30, 2026. HBM stands for Huaxin Building Materials, the new parent brand now overseeing the Nigerian business. The deal marks the end of Holcim’s near 84% holding in Lafarge Africa and signals a broader push by Chinese building materials groups into African infrastructure markets.
Under the transaction, the previous entity Lafarge Africa Plc is now HBM Nigeria Plc. The new owner is Huaxin Cement Co. and Huaxin Building Materials. The deal value was approximately $1 billion and received shareholder approval on April 30, 2026. Holcim had held the majority stake since the Lafarge-Holcim merger, and its exit leaves Huaxin as the controlling shareholder.
HBM Nigeria said day-to-day operations will continue without disruption. Plants will keep running and existing customer contracts remain in place. The company retains four core cement facilities at Sagamu and Ewekoro in the southwest, Ashaka in the northeast, and Mfamosing in the south. Those sites give it coverage across Nigeria’s main construction corridors. Leadership also stays the same for now, with Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Lolu Alade-Akinyemi continuing to head the business.
The rebrand is largely cosmetic in the near term, but the ownership shift brings Huaxin’s balance sheet and expansion playbook to Nigeria. Huaxin has been acquiring cement assets across Asia and Africa in recent years as part of China’s push to export building capacity. For Nigeria, the transaction keeps one of the country’s largest cement producers under foreign ownership at a time when government infrastructure spending and housing demand are driving volume growth. It also removes a European major from the shareholder register.
Market analysts will watch whether HBM leans on Huaxin for capital expenditure, technology transfers, and exports, or maintains Lafarge Africa’s existing supply chains and brand relationships. For now, HBM Nigeria is positioning the change as continuity. “Operations, plants, and customer commitments remain unchanged,” the company said in its post-approval statement.
