Chinese cement producer West China Cement has moved to acquire South Africa’s AfriSam, highlighting the accelerating drive by Chinese industrial groups to expand across African markets as construction demand weakens at home.

Details of the proposed transaction surfaced in a notice published on December 18 by Botswana’s Competition and Consumer Authority, which invited stakeholders to submit comments “for or against the proposed merger.” The consultation window is expected to close within ten days, potentially paving the way for regulatory assessments across the region. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to BI, the proposed buyer is West International New Building Materials, a subsidiary of West China Cement, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The group is among a growing number of Chinese cement producers seeking overseas growth as China’s prolonged property slump continues to weigh on domestic cement consumption, capacity utilization, and pricing.

China’s cement industry, the world’s largest, has been under pressure from falling housing starts, slowing infrastructure investment, and tighter financial conditions for developers. Against this backdrop, Africa has emerged as an attractive alternative, offering long-term population growth, urbanization, and infrastructure needs that underpin demand for building materials.

The continent has already seen a wave of Chinese investment in the sector. Huaxin Cement last year paid about $1 billion to acquire a controlling stake in Lafarge Africa from Holcim, marking one of the largest Chinese cement deals on the continent. West China Cement itself is no stranger to Africa, with ongoing cement plant developments in Ethiopia and Uganda, signaling a strategy of building scale across multiple markets.

For Chinese groups, acquiring established African assets offers a faster route to market than greenfield projects, providing access to existing distribution networks, limestone reserves, and local expertise.

The Move could reshape Africa’s cement market and intensify pressure on Dangote Cement

The West China Cement’s move is emerging as more than a regional deal, with analysts saying a successful takeover could alter competitive dynamics across Africa’s cement market and, over time, challenge the dominance of Dangote Cement, the continent’s largest producer.

Dangote Cement, controlled by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has long faced criticism in Nigeria over the high cost of cement, with consumers, builders, and labor groups accusing the company of market power and pricing that worsens housing affordability.

Dangote has sought to justify domestic pricing by pointing to Nigeria’s heavy tax burden on manufacturers, arguing that it makes locally sold cement more expensive than exports.

“When you look at my invoice, the cement I export is cheaper than the one I’m selling domestically, because that’s how exports work,” Dangote said earlier this month. “In export I’m saving a lot of money. I’m not paying 30% income tax, I’m not paying 2% education, I’m not paying 1% health, I’m not paying 7.5% VAT, and I’m not paying 10% withholding tax.”

Those explanations, however, have done little to ease public anger, particularly as cement prices have climbed alongside broader inflation and currency weakness. Critics argue that limited competition allows dominant producers to pass rising costs onto consumers with little restraint.

West China Cement’s African expansion, including a potential foothold in South Africa through AfriSam, is seen by some industry watchers as part of a longer-term trend that could introduce more aggressive pricing and capacity competition across the continent. Chinese producers, backed by scale, state-linked financing, and experience operating in highly competitive domestic markets, may be willing to accept thinner margins to gain market share.

AfriSam itself is a major but unlisted South African cement producer, with interests spanning cement, aggregates, and ready-mix concrete. Its shareholders include some of South Africa’s most influential financial institutions, among them the Public Investment Corporation, Nedbank, Standard Bank, FirstRand, and Absa, following years of restructuring. These investors have been exploring exit options, creating an opening for a foreign buyer.

South Africa’s cement market is already crowded, with JSE-listed PPC as the largest domestic producer, alongside Lafarge South Africa, owned by Afrimat, and Sephaku Cement, a subsidiary of Dangote Cement. Persistent oversupply, imports, and subdued construction activity have weighed on profitability, making consolidation increasingly attractive.

The timing of the proposed AfriSam deal also aligns with South Africa’s policy ambitions. President Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly outlined plans to position the country as a major construction and infrastructure hub, with increased spending on roads, housing, energy, and logistics expected to support cement demand over the medium term.

If regulators approve the acquisition, West China Cement would gain an established platform in one of Africa’s most industrialized economies. Over the longer term, its expanding African footprint is expected intensify competition with incumbents such as Dangote Cement.

U.S. stock index futures traded quietly in a thin post-Christmas session on Friday, as investors largely stayed on the sidelines while maintaining a broadly optimistic outlook for the year ahead, driven by expectations of interest rate cuts and continued strength in corporate earnings.

The subdued tone followed a strong pre-holiday performance. Both the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Wednesday’s holiday-shortened session at record highs, capping a rally that has gathered momentum toward the end of the year after months of uneven trading marked by sharp rotations and valuation-driven pullbacks.

By 6:13 a.m. ET on Friday, S&P 500 E-minis were down 2 points, or 0.03 percent. Nasdaq 100 E-minis edged up 6 points, or 0.02 percent, while Dow E-minis fell 55 points, or 0.11 percent. Trading volumes were expected to remain muted, with many institutional investors still away from the market following the Christmas break.

Recent gains have come after a volatile stretch earlier in the year, when stocks, particularly those tied to artificial intelligence, came under pressure amid concerns that soaring valuations and heavy capital spending could squeeze profit margins. Those worries triggered intermittent selloffs and raised questions about whether the AI-driven rally had run too far, too fast.

Sentiment has since improved. Economic data pointing to continued resilience in the U.S. economy, coupled with growing market expectations of a more accommodative monetary stance next year under a new Federal Reserve chair, have helped steady investor nerves. That shift, alongside renewed interest in AI-linked stocks, has lifted all three major indexes—the S&P 500, the Dow, and the Nasdaq Composite—putting them on track for a third straight year of gains.

The S&P 500 has risen more than 17 percent so far in 2025. While megacap technology stocks powered much of that advance earlier in the year, recent sessions have seen the rally broaden, with investors rotating into more economically sensitive sectors such as financials and materials. Market participants often view such broadening as a sign that confidence is spreading beyond a narrow group of high-growth names.

Traders are also watching closely to see whether the market delivers a so-called “Santa Claus rally,” a seasonal pattern in which the S&P 500 tends to gain during the final five trading days of the year and the first two sessions of January, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. That period began on Wednesday and will run through January 5, offering a brief window to test whether seasonal optimism carries through to the start of the new year.

In premarket trading, Nvidia shares rose 0.7 percent after the AI chip designer said it would license chip technology from startup Groq and hire its chief executive officer, underscoring the intense competition for both technology and talent in the AI sector. Micron Technology added 2 percent, extending its strong run this month. The stock is up nearly 22 percent in December, buoyed by upbeat earnings forecasts and expectations of robust demand for memory chips used in AI and data centre applications.

Elsewhere, Biohaven shares fell 13.4 percent after the company said its experimental depression drug failed to meet the main goal of a mid-stage trial, deepening a difficult year marked by multiple clinical and commercial setbacks. Coupang, by contrast, jumped 6.2 percent after the online retailer said all customer information leaked from its South Korean operations had been deleted by the suspect, easing investor concerns over potential regulatory or reputational damage.

Precious metal miners also advanced, tracking fresh record highs in gold and silver prices. U.S.-listed shares of companies such as First Majestic, Coeur Mining, and Endeavour Silver rose between 2.8 percent and 4.4 percent, as falling interest rate expectations continued to support demand for bullion and related equities.

With the year drawing to a close, markets appear caught between caution and optimism. Thin holiday trading has kept price moves contained, but the broader narrative remains intact: investors are increasingly betting that easing monetary policy, steady economic growth, and solid earnings will extend Wall Street’s rally into 2026, even as questions around valuations and sector leadership linger beneath the surface.

The United States has carried out a military strike targeting Islamic terrorists in northwest Nigeria, President Donald Trump said on Thursday, marking a rare publicly acknowledged U.S. military action in that part of the country and sharpening Washington’s focus on Nigeria’s security crisis.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

He said the fighters had “targeted and viciously” killed civilians, adding that the victims were “primarily, innocent Christians,” and claimed the scale of the killings had not been seen “for many years, and even Centuries!”

Trump framed the strike as a response to earlier warnings he said he had issued to the group.

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” he said.

The U.S. military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), which oversees American operations on the continent, confirmed the strike in a separate statement on X. AFRICOM said the operation was carried out at the request of Nigerian authorities and resulted in the deaths of “multiple ISIS terrorists.” It did not provide further details on the exact location, the number of casualties, or the assets used in the strike.

The operation follows comments made by Trump weeks earlier, when he said he had ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for possible military action in Nigeria. Those remarks were linked to his administration’s public emphasis on alleged persecution of Christians in parts of the country, an issue Trump has repeatedly highlighted in statements and online posts.

In Washington, the issue of violence against Christians in Nigeria has been the subject of sustained discussion on Capitol Hill. Over the past months, U.S. lawmakers have held hearings and briefings examining reports of mass killings in central and northern Nigeria. This has led to the U.S. designating Nigeria as a “country of particular concern.”

Lawmakers have cited repeated attacks in rural communities, particularly in Plateau and Benue states, where armed groups have carried out raids that local leaders and church officials say have disproportionately affected Christian farming communities.

Nigeria’s government has pushed back against that framing, saying violence across the country is driven by a complex mix of insurgency, banditry and communal conflict, and that armed groups attack both Muslim and Christian communities. Nigerian officials have also said U.S. assertions focusing narrowly on Christian persecution overlook ongoing efforts by security forces to restore stability and protect freedom of worship in affected regions.

The U.S. strike also comes amid a tougher diplomatic posture from Washington. The U.S. State Department recently announced visa restrictions on Nigerians, adding to earlier restrictions imposed on those found to be involved in mass killings or violence against Christians, a move that underscored the administration’s willingness to pair security cooperation with targeted sanctions.

While U.S. forces have long supported Nigeria through intelligence sharing, training and limited counterterrorism assistance, direct American strikes inside the country are uncommon and politically sensitive. AFRICOM’s statement that the operation was conducted at Nigeria’s request suggests close coordination between the two governments, even as public narratives around the causes of violence continue to diverge.

The Nigeria government says President Bola Tinubu approved the US strikes. Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said on Friday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, that it was Nigeria that provided intelligence for the US.

“We spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio twice: once 19 minutes before the strike and another time 5 minutes before it went on,” he said.

He explained that as a multi-religious country, Nigeria is working with partners like the US to fight terrorism and safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians.

“Now that the US is cooperating, we would do it jointly, and we would ensure, just as the President emphasized yesterday before he gave the go-ahead, that it must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion nor simply in the name of one religion or the other,” the minister added.

However, the U.S. strike has sparked debate over sovereignty. Some Nigerians have sounded alarm about the precedent set by foreign military action on Nigerian soil, even when carried out with Abuja’s consent. But others have countered that Nigeria itself has recently taken similar cross-border security actions. Early this month, Nigeria launched air strikes in neighboring Benin Republic, targeting coup plotters who attempted to take over government.