The deal is worth US$1.35bn and will see the combined entity, of which Lafarge group will own 73 per cent, renamed Lafarge Africa Plc and listed on the Nigerian bourse with a market capitalisation of around US$3bn. The chairman of Lafarge Wapco, Olusegun Osunkeye, disclosed to shareholders that the Nigerian cement firm would pay the Lafarge group US$200m in cash and 1.4bn in new shares to buy Lafarge's South African unit and some of its other Nigerian businesses to combine operations. The company also received shareholder approval to raise NGN100bn (US$616m) in debt or equity on domestic or international capital markets.