On 23rd of March, 2020, BUA Group, a major Food and Infrastructure Conglomerate officially announced the acquisition of majority shareholding in P.W Nigeria Limited – a leading Civil Engineering and Infrastructure firm. This new Joint Venture rings a bell from April 2015 when Dangote, a leading industrial conglomerate and BUA’s major competitor, diversified into infrastructure & construction through a Joint Venture agreement with Saipem, an engineering firm with over 50 years experience in energy and infrastructure projects, to create Saipem-Dangote E&C. It was great news for the infrastructure sector as they aimed to secure complex Engineering & Construction projects. However, we haven’t seen many results from the Joint Venture. 

According to BUA, the Joint Venture was necessary to further deepen its investments in the infrastructure business in sub-Saharan Africa. Speaking on the acquisition, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Executive Chairman of BUA Group said, 

“This acquisition marks the beginning of the next phase of our medium-term strategy for our infrastructure business following the completion of the consolidation of our cement arm, BUA Cement, in January 2020. BUA’s acquisition of majority holdings in P.W. Nigeria Limited provides a prime opportunity to increase our investments in the entire value chain of the Cement, Mining and Construction industry where we already have BUA Cement Plc, the second-largest cement company in Nigeria, as well as investments in other areas including mining, quarrying, construction, power and logistics amongst others…” 

BUA Group, established in 1988 by founder and industrialist, Abdul Samad Rabiu and has grown over the years to entrench its place as a leading player in the foods, mining, manufacturing and infrastructure space in Africa with major investments in cement, mining, real estate, steel, port operations, sugar and agribusiness. Investments in Real estate includes residential properties such as BUA Kado Estates- 204 fully detached residential duplexes, BUA Hills, Abuja- 40 Units Mansions in Highbrow Asokoro District of Abuja FCT, BUA Court, Abuja- 40 Units (terraced houses) in Wuse II, Abuja FCT and commercial properties such as BUA Towers- Victoria Island, The BUA Place, Victoria Island and BUA Business Park- FCT Abuja.

The company was originally founded in 1948 in Ireland as H&D Flinn Ltd, renamed to Public Works Ltd in 1963, and later began operations in Nigeria in 1974. P.W Nigeria Ltd. now has over 45 years of experience working in Nigeria, and throughout the West Africa region with a diverse portfolio comprising mining, earthmoving, roads and bridges, airport runways, infrastructure development, water supply & sewage projects.