Cement News tagged: Corporate
India: Nirma to acquire Lafarge India for US$1.4bn
LafargeHolcim has announced that it has reached agreement with Nirma Group for the sale of Lafarge India. The deal - valued at US$1.4bn - will see Nirma acquire assets that include 11Mta of grinding capacity and several limestone quarries. Nirma has won out against four other bidders: China’s Anhui Conch, Mexican firm Cemex, and domestic firms JSW Cement and Piramal Group. The Competition C...
India: Birla eyes September completion of Reliance acquisition
Birla Corporation has said that it expects to complete its acquisition of Reliance Cement by September, Gulf Today reports. The US$711m deal was initially struck in February 2016 and will raise Birla’s cement capacity from 10Mta to 15.5Mta, as well as securing access to mineral concessions. A group of Birla shareholders took the company to court in an effort to block the deal, but this was ...
India: modernised MCCL almost ready for commercial production
The modernised plant at Mawmluh Cherra Cements Ltd (MCCL) is expected to begin its commercial operation in two weeks’ time, acording to the Sholling Times. MCCL managing director, Sanjay Goyal, said the works requires certain clearances from the Central Excise department and a pollution clearance before it can start commercial operation. He said the INR1000m (US$14.8m) modernised facility ...
Puerto Rico: Cemex agrees penalties for MSHA safety violations
The US Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced that Cemex de Puerto Rico has agreed to pay US$291,722 in penalties and implement enhanced safety measures at its three MSHA-regulated facilities in Puerto Rico. The settlement resolves 119 citations and orders issued for safety violations at the company’s Ponce Cement plant and Cantera Canas mines. MSHA issued the c...
Kenya: LafargeHolcim accused of conflicting priorities over EAPCC holdings
The outgoing chief executive of the East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC), Kephar Tande, has told Kenya’s Standard newspaper that LafargeHolcim should either divest itself of its holdings in the firm or take it over completely. Kephar Tande, who steps down in November, said that LafargeHolcim’s 41.7 per cent stake in EAPCC makes the multinational firm his largest shareholder. However,...
FLSmidth MAAG Gear appoints new head of global operations
Jens Westh has resigned his position as vice president & head of global operations at FLSmidth MAAG Gear. Morten Toft, presently heading customer services in FLSmidth Airtech, has accepted the position as new head of global operations at FLSmidth MAAG Gear. Morten Toft is a Mechanical Engineer with 21 years of experience with service in different positions within FLSmidth.
India: Delhi real estate developers to boycott Shree Cement
The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India’s (CREDAI’s) regional representatives in Delhi have announced that they will boycott Shree Cement, according to reports in the Times of India. CREDAI accuses the cement producer of pushing up prices and creating artificial scarcity. It intends to file a complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI). A CREDAI sp...
Greece: Heracles Cement plant modernisation
Heracles Cement, a member of the LafargeHolcim Group, announced the completion of its first phase of an investment plan to modernise its Volos plant. The project, costing approximately EUR5m (US$5.5m), aims to boost the plant's export activity and competitiveness in the domestic market. In 2016, Heracles Group has modernised the plant's electrical installations, as part of its strategic ...
Egypt: Qalaa 1Q16 losses
Qalaa Holdings recorded a 1Q16 net loss of EGP242.7m (US$27.3m), greater than the losses of EGP112.2m (US$12.6m) seen in the same period last year, as reported by news organisation Zawya Ltd. Total revenues saw a 20 per cent increase YoY in 1Q16 compared to the adjusted EGP1.44bn reported for 1Q15. Comparative 1Q15 figures have been adjusted to reflect the divestment of ASEC Minya, ASEC Rea...
India: Ramco given go ahead for power plant upgrade
Ramco Cements has received a boost to its share price after it was given environmental clearance to expand the power plant at one of its facilities. The company’s shares rose by 0.7 per cent after it announced that it had been allowed to proceed with its plans to expand the captive power plant at Alathiyur in Tamil Nadu . This project will raise generation capacity to 42MW at a cost of ...
TCC International Holdings forecasts 1H16 loss
Hong Kong-based TCC International Holdings Ltd issued a profit warning, expecting to record a loss for the six months ended 30 June 2016, as compared with the profit of US$10.5m in the year-ago period. The turnaround was mainly due to the decrease in the average unit selling price of cement, clinker and slag powder in China as compared with the year-ago period as well as an expected fore...
India: two new projects announced
Birla Group’s Mangalam Cement and Absolute Cement & Polymers have unveiled plans to increase capacity at existing plants in India. Mangalam’s project – the larger of the two – will see its Kota integrated plant upgraded from 6.1Mta to 9Mta. This includes expanding clinker capacity from 4.06Mta to 5.3Mta and increasing the size of its captive power plant to 52.5MW. The project is expected to...
LafargeHolcim’s fifth international design awards opens for entries
This week sees LafargeHolcim’s fifth international sustainable construction awards open for submissions. The awards, administered by the LafargeHolcim Foundation, will be accepting entrants until 21 March 2017. The competition’s main category is open to architects, planners, engineers, students of related disciplines, project owners, builders and construction firms that showcase sustainable...
India: UltraTech concludes Jaypee deal
UltraTech Cement has struck a deal to obtain the cement assets of Jaypee Group with a last-minute increase in acquisition price on Monday. UltraTech will purchase Jaypee Group’s cement operations, that have a total capacity of 17.2Mta spread across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh, for INR161.9bn (US$2.4bn). In addition to existing cement opera...
Cyprus: Vassiliko Cement does not expect strategy change
Cyprus’s Vassiliko Cement Works Plc Ltd said HeidelbergCement AG is now in control of almost 26 per cent of the Cypriot cement company's voting rights after it acquired a controlling stake in two of its major shareholders. HeidelbergCement directly and indirectly owns 45.5 per cent of Italcementi, which in turn is the owner of of Compagnie Financière et de Participations and Italmed Cement ...
Pakistan: Pioneer approves new 7000tpd plant
Pioneer Cement (PIOC) informed Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on 4 July that the company’s board of directors has approved a capacity expansion plan for a new 7000tpd cement plant. The present Chenki unit, Khusshab district, produces 2Mta of cement in the heart of Punjab province, 250km away from Lahore and 120km away from the M2 motorway. The board also directed company management to con...