Sustainable construction giant grows African footprint

Saint-Gobain, global leaders in light weight and sustainable construction, continue their commitment to growth on the African continent with recent acquisitions in Kenya, Mauritius and the Ivory Coast. These come shortly after the announcement of Saint-Gobain’s new global strategic plan, Grow & Impact, increasing their business stronghold of industrial operations to 10 Sub-Saharan African countries.

The acquisition of a gypsum plasters plant in Nairobi, Kenya, will serve the growing demand within this area, and will also allow for complementary innovative, energy efficient solutions in the building sector including further investments in a technical mortars plant. “The dual set-up of plasters and mortars will allow maximum synergies and pooling of resources as the demand grows in both volume and range of products,” says Kennedy Sithole, Managing Director East Africa.

In Mauritius, where Saint-Gobain has already had a strong foothold with imported solutions in plaster, plaster board and building glass, the company has concluded the acquisition as majority shareholders of a.b.e.® Indian Ocean, a leading supplier of waterproofing, admixtures and technical mortars in the region. In Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where Saint-Gobain has already been operating an admixtures operations, they have established a new technical mortars plant.

“This geographical expansion aims to better serve our African Customers by offering – locally made – “Sustainable, energy efficient and performing solutions” to cope with construction challenges within the continent “says Jean Claude Lasserre, CEO of Saint-Gobain Africa.

Saint-Gobain is now present industrially in 12 African Countries (10 in Sub Saharan Africa) namely South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Mauritius, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Marocco and Egypt. These operations cover a full range of innovative solutions from Gypsum board, Gypsum plasters, technical mortars , admixtures,  Waterproofing, metal frames, Insulation, Building Glass, Automotive Glass and Abrasives.