Cement News tagged: Corporate
Argos considers acquiring Holcim and Lafarge Latin America divestments
Colombia's Cementos Argos is currently looking into acquiring the assets Lafarge and Holcim are planning to sell in Latin America, particularly Mexico and Brazil. However, it has not yet finalised any negotiations. "We are firstly interested in looking at Mexico and Brazil," said José Alberto Vélez, president of the Argos Group, in the local newspaper La República. "We have been watching wit...
Wonder Cement places new order with Gebr Pfeiffer, India
India-based producer Wonder Cement has placed an order with Gebr Pfeiffer for raw meal and coal mills as part of plans to expand its Tehsil Nimbahera cement works. The mills will supply the new 8500tpd kiln line at the plant situated in Chittorgarh district, India. The MPS 5600 B, with a capacity of 605tph of raw meal and a fineness of 1.5 per cent residue on the 212µm sieve, will be equipped...
Orient in strategic talks to acquire 2Mta plant
Orient Cement is in talks with three companies to acquire a cement plant as part of plans to triple capacity by 2020, a senior company executive has said. Deepak Ketrapal, managing director of Orient Cement, told local press that "strategic discussions“ are being held to acquire a 2Mta cement plant. The names of the companies were undisclosed. Mr Ketrapal added that Madhya Pradesh and Chhatt...
FLSmidth maintains 2014 guidance
FLSmidth has reviewed and approved the company’s interim report for the six months to 30 June 2014, maintaining its 2014 guidance and noting a significant improvement in margins. However, its order intake declined declined due to a lack of large orders, whereas announced orders were stable. In 2Q14 FLSmidth's order intake fell by 17 per cent to DKK4643m and the order backlog fell by 20 per c...
Sagar in talks to buy BMM Cements, India
Sagar Cement is in talks to buy BMM Cements as it plans to use the proceeds from the sale of its stake in the Vicat Sagar joint venture to fund growth organically and through M&A activity. BMM Cements operates a 1Mta integrated cement works along with a 25MW captive power plant near the Tadipatri in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Sources told the Economic Times of India that a team...
CRH to sell Turkish joint venture
CRH and its Turkish partner, Eren Holding AS, have hired JPMorgan Chase & Co to help sell their cement joint venture in Turkey, according to reports in the Irish Times. Sources familiar with the matter say that three potential bidders are among those shortlisted and the sale process for Denizli Cimento Sanayaii TAS could be finalised as early as October. Companies including Sabanci Holdings, ...
Badami takes up role of ACC chief executive officer and MD
Harish Badami yesterday assumed the role of CEO and managing director of India’s second-largest cement producer, ACC. "Harish Badami has taken over as CEO & MD from August 13 2014 and Kuldip Kaura has demitted office as CEO & MD from the said date," the Holcim group company said in a statement. The Board had approved Badami’s appointment in June. Prior to joining ACC on 1 August 2014, Bada...
CVC in talks over Holcim Lafarge assets
Private equity firm CVC is in talks with Singapore's Government Investment Corporation over possible joint bids for Holcim and Lafarge assets ahead of their planned merger, Sky News reported on Tuesday. The companies have reportedly received over 100 expressions of interest for assets they must dispose of to facilitate rapid progress of the merger, which has a deadline for completion by 1H15....
Tongling Shangfeng to enter Kyrgyzstan
Tongling Shangfeng Cement, a subsidiary of Gansu Shangfeng Cement, has signed a letter of intent to acquire an equity stake in Zeth Cement of Kyrgyzstan. The Chinese-based company aims to join forces with investor Zhu Rongjun to develop a cement and clinker line with a capacity of 3000tpd. Tongling Shangfeng will have a 58 per cent stake in Zeth while Zhu will hold the remaining 42 per ...
Oman: Raysut Cement first-half net profit ahead
Oman’s Raysut Cement reported a 5.9 per cent rise in net profit in the six months to the end of June 2014 while cement volumes held firm despite heightened competition. The company reported a net profit of OMR15.58m in the first-half of 2014, an increase of 5.9 per cent from the corresponding period last year. Group revenue inched down to OMR49.49m from OMR49.52m. Company chairman Sheikh...
CRC attributable profit surges, China
China Resources Cement (CRC) said its profit attributable to owners for the six months ended 30 June 2014 rose 79.5 per cent YoY to HK$2056m. Basic earnings per share were HK31.5 cents. Turnover reached HK$15,161m, an increase of 17.9 per cent from a year earlier. The consolidated gross margin was 31.9 per cent, representing an increase of 8.8 percentage points from 23.1 per cent for t...
Nigeria: Ashaka trebles profit in 1H14
Nigerian Lafarge subsidiary Ashaka Cement has reported a 1H14 profit after tax of NGN3.51bn (US$21.5m), a 201 per cent increase than its 1H13 figure of NGN1.15bn. Pretax profits at the company surged 166 per cent YoY from NGN1.65bn to NGN4.39bn in 1H14. The stellar rise in profit figures has been attributed partly to Ashaka's switch to coal from the Maiganga Coal Mine in Gombe State, a sign...
Semen Indonesia to expand to 72.9Mta by 2030
PT Semen Indonesia said that it intends to expand its production capacity to 72.9Mta by 2030. As a result, output potential would more than double its present capacity of 31.8Mta, according to Dwi Soetjipto, Semen Indonesia's president director. The higher capacity would be achieved through building more plants or acquire the works of other cement producers, he added. "In 2014, the company...
Bamburi posts first-half pretax profit drop
Bamburi Cement posted a 28 per cent drop in first-half pretax profit to KES2.3bn (US$26.2m) from KES3.2bn a year earlier. The Lafarge group company attributed the decline to rising power costs, increased use of imported clinker and the introduction of a mining levy in Kenya. Operating profit fell 27 per cent to KES2.2bn compared KES3bn in the comparative period of 2013. However, turnover ros...
Turkish producers divest of power unit
Turkish cement producers Batisoke Soke Cimento Sanayii and Baticim Bati Anadolu Cimento Sanayii have sold their jointly-owned power unit Tezli Dere Elektrik Uretimi. Batisoke has sold its 36 per cent stake in the power company to local investors Salih Yaman and Huseyin Sumer for a total of US$216,150, while Baticim has sold its 64 per cent stake to Salih Yaman for US$383,850, the cement compa...
Senior appointments at Orient Cement, India
Orient Cement’s board of directors has appointed Rahul Deshmukh as chief operating officer at a meeting held on 7 August 2014. Meanwhile, Sushil Gupta has been named chief financial officer of the company. SK Pandey has also been appointed Plant Head of Orient's Devapur cement works.