The Algerian cement plants of Tébessa, Ain Kebira and Chlef have been selected to go public. In a statement to APS, the president of the Stock Exchange Supervisory and Organising Committee, Abdelhakim Berah, said these GICA factories were among the strongest in the country. For instance, Chlef has the largest production capacity in Algeria.

The step indicates a further privatisation of the Algerian cement industry. In 2008, Hadjr-Soud and Sour El Ghozlane started their partnership with Italy’s Buzzi Unicem while a year earlier Zahana had forged a similar agreement in December 2007 with Egypt’s ASEC.