Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican company Dugongo Cimentos is one of the candidates chosen for the auction promoted by the Angolan state for the privatization of the cement unit of the Chinese business group China International Fund (CIF).
Dugongo Cimentos Mozambique is a joint venture between Mozambican state-owned SPI Gestão e Investimentos and China-based West International Holding.
In a statement, the Angolan Institute for Asset Management and State Participation (IGAPE) indicates that five companies in the beverage, cement, logistics and automotive sectors will be auctioned in the coming days.
In the same note, IGAPE states that the final qualification reports submitted by the Negotiation Committees were accepted, referring to the CIF Cement Factory and CIF Logistics Center, the Beer Factory (CIF Lowenda) and the Car Assembly Unit CIF SCG.
According to the aforementioned reports, the Chinese companies Rushan Shuguang Cerveja LTD and Unique Beverages (belonging to the Indian group Noble Group) have been qualified to compete for the privatization of the Beer Factory (Lowenda), whose auction will take place on Thursday.
In the running for the CIF Cement Factory and Logistics Centre, with an auction scheduled for next Monday, are the Angolan consortiums Griner/Ciment/Mercons and the Chinese H&S/Yupeng, and the companies Huaxin Cement, LTD (Chinese) and Mozambique Dugongo.
The only qualified bidder for the car assembly plant is the company OPAIA S.A, owned by Angolan businessman Agostinho Kapaia.
Dozens of properties and industries belonging to CIF were seized in 2020 by the National Asset Recovery Service of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), as part of investigations related to the fight against corruption and the recovery of assets paid for with public funds.
CIF is a private Chinese company headquartered in Hong Kong and with an office in Beijing, founded in 2003 to finance national reconstruction and infrastructure development projects in developing countries, mainly in Africa.
Two former members of the government of former President José Eduardo dos Santos (now deceased), Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento “Dino” and Helder Vieira Dias, CIF Angola, as well as the companies Plansmart International Limited and Utter Right International Limited are currently on trial for alleged involvement in crimes of embezzlement, fraud, document forgery, criminal association, abuse of power, money laundering and influence peddling.
The companies were allegedly used by the defendants to set up a scheme involving a financing agreement between Angola and China to support national reconstruction after the civil war, which also included the China International Fund and its subsidiaries and Sonangol, whose former president Manuel Vicente is mentioned several times in the indictment.
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