Nigeria, May 16 -- The Federal High Court Lagos Judicial Division on Thursday dismissed a motion by Lafarge Africa and Holcim Limited objecting to the court's jurisdiction to hear a matter involving a deal for the sales of the latter's shares in the former to Huaxin, a Chinese cement maker.

Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa, after hearing the submission of the counsel to the plaintiff (Strategic Consultancy Limited) and the legal team of Lafarge Africa and Holcim, who are co-defendants in the suit, threw out the motion.

The Central Securities and Clearing System Plc and the Nigerian Exchange Limited are the other defendants.

Lafarge Africa announced last December that its board of directors considered communications received from Lafarge's bigg...