15.09.10 HeidelbergCement signs agreement with George Forrest

HeidelbergCement will hold majority stakes of 55 % in the Cimenterie de Lukala (CILU) cement plant, located close to the capital city of Kinshasa, and of 70 % in the two Interlacs plants, located in the eastern part of the country. Total cement capacity of all plants amounts to more than 500,000 tonnes per year and shall be expanded to over 1.4 million tonnes. In the new partnership, Forrest Group retains a 30 % position in the plants.

"With this partnership, we expand our African business and enter the very attractive cement market of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a strong partner on our side," explains Dr. Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement. "The CILU cement plant has significant limestone reserves and is ideally located to supply the growing cement market of the capital city of Kinshasa. We plan to further increase capacities over the coming years in order to take advantage of the considerably growing local demand for cement."

About HeidelbergCement
HeidelbergCement is the global market leader in aggregates and a prominent player in the fields of cement, concrete and other downstream activities, making it one of the world’s largest manufacturers of building materials. The company employs some 53,000 people at 2,500 locations in more than 40 countries.

In Africa, HeidelbergCement operates already ten plants in seven countries south of the Sahara: Benin, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Togo.

About Forrest Group
The Forrest Group was created in 1922 in the province of Katanga and is the largest private sector employer in DRC with about 15,000 jobs. The Forrest Group is a leading actor in exploitation and operation of mines (cobalt/copper), metallurgy, cement, engineering and the assembly of industrial complexes.

About the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the third largest country in Africa by area and has a population of nearly 71 million. Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the country with a population of about ten million inhabitants which makes it the second largest city of sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: press release HeidelbergCement, 15.09.10