AECI Limited () is a
South African chemical
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...
s group and is listed on the
JSE Securities Exchange.
History
The company was registered as ''African Explosives and Industries '' (AE&I) in 1924, with its headquarters in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
. It was formed as the result of a merger between the South African interests of
Nobel Industries of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and the manufacturing arm of
De Beers
De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...
Consolidated Diamond Mines of
Kimberley. The company's primary purpose was to provide blasting
explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
s and detonators to South African
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
mines but AE&I was also the only South African producer of
phosphatic fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
. In 1944 the company was renamed as ''African Explosives and Chemical Industries '' (AECI). The company was listed on the JSE in 1966.
The AECI Group operates companies in the following market segments:
* Mining solutions (explosives and initiating systems)
* Specialty fibres
*
Specialty chemicals
Speciality chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products which provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agr ...
* Real Estate
AECI's principal manufacturing sites are located in the following cities in South Africa:
*
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
(mining solutions and specialty chemicals)
*
Sasolburg (specialty chemicals)
*
Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
(specialty chemicals).
AECI is a specialty product and services group of companies which claims to provide "value-adding solutions to customers through science, technology and industry knowledge". The focus is on serving the mining and manufacturing sectors. The Dulux decorative coatings business was disposed of in 2007 and the unprofitable segments of the SANS Fibres business were closed.
Construction is in progress on five projects related mainly to the mining sector, with capital expenditure of about R1.1 billion in total over the next two years.
AECI’s core businesses serve both global and regional markets.
Both African Explosives and Chemical Services have expanded their presence throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The DetNet joint venture designs, produces and sells electronic detonators. In specialty chemicals a presence has been established in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
The realisation of land and the utilisation of built assets that have become surplus to AECI’s requirements are managed in the property portfolio, led by Heartland Properties. These activities offer land holdings near Johannesburg and Cape Town for commercial, residential and industrial development and leasing purposes. By the end of 2007, 14.5 square kilometres of the 37.7 square kilometres of excess land available had been sold.
At the end of 2007, AECI had 6000 employees, many of whom are engaged in the Group's sales, technical service and distribution networks.
Company structure
The AECI group of companies consists of:
*
African Explosives Limited
* Improchem (Pty) Limited
* Chemical Initiatives (Pty) Limited
* DetNet (
Pty) Limited
* Acacia
* SANS Fibres (Pty) Limited
See also
*
List of companies traded on the JSE
This is a list of companies traded on the JSE. The original compilation of the list was done in February 2006.
__NOTOC__
''Note: For companies without a listed external link there is at various financial information sites; please see artic ...
*
List of companies of South Africa
South Africa is the southernmost country in Africa. It is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area, and with close to 60 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation.
The World Bank classifies South Africa as an upper-m ...
*
Economy of South Africa
The Economy of South Africa is the third largest in Africa and the most industrialized, technologically advanced, and diversified economy in Africa overall. South Africa is an upper-middle-income economy, one of only eight such countries in Africa ...
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
AECI Annual Report 2011AECI websiteDetNet website
Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Manufacturing companies based in Johannesburg