Two Chinese firms sign overseas cement deals worth $733 mln

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese firms Sinoma and CITIC Heavy Industries have agreed deals totalling $733 million to produce cement in Nigeria and Myanmar, respectively, as they expand in emerging markets overseas. Sinoma International Engineering Co Ltd, a unit of China National Materials Co Ltd, signed a $536 million contract with Nigeria's Dangote Cement Plc, Sinoma and National Materials said in separate statements on Thursday. Sinoma and Dangote, owned by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote who is Africa's richest man, will be building two clinker cement production lines, each with a daily capacity of 6,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, CITIC Heavy Industries is collaborating in Myanmar with a unit of Siam Cement Group, Mawlamyine Cement Ltd, on a cement production facility with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes per day, it said in a statement. "The signing of the project and a smooth implementation will have a positive impact on the company's future operations," CITIC Heavy said. "It will also further develop the company's presence in the southeast Asian cement market, giving a boost to our financial results." The project, worth $197 million, follows a similar contract that CITIC Heavy and Thailand's Siam Cement signed in May to build a cement production line in Cambodia, CITIC said in the filing on the Shanghai stock exchange. In November, China Machinery Engineering Corp entered a $236 million agreement with Kar Group for a 6,000 tonne-per-day cement plant project in Iraq. The Thursday announcements came after the China and Hong Kong markets closed. Sinoma's shares ended 0.12 percent lower at 8.35 yuan, while CITIC Heavy's stock closed 0.29 percent higher at 3.49 yuan, compared with the Shanghai composite index's 0.06 percent fall. China National's shares finished 0.57 percent lower at HK$1.75, roughly in line with the Hang Seng Index's 0.51 percent fall.