Cement News tagged under: ARM Cement

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Aliko Dangote has targeted Kenyan producer believed to be ARM

09 November 2018, Published under Cement News

Dangote Cement is understood to be in talks to buy the troubled Kenyan cement maker ARM. This follows an interview of Aliko Dangote by Bloomberg News in which he said: "There is a company which... has operations in Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda and we are talking to the company to see if we can take it over," said Mr Dangote. ARM was not named in the discussion, but it is the only cement producer operating in the three markets that were mentioned. ARM has integrated cement plants in Kalol...

Kigali Cement plant auction postponed

26 September 2018, Published under Cement News

The auctioning of Kigali Cement’s plant in Nyarugenge, Rwanda, has been postponed, allowing more time for talks between the involved parties. The sale was being made to allow the company to pay its creditors, Rwanda Enterprise Investment Company (REIC). However, Kigali Cement and REIC have now agreed to hold talks, according to Aloys Bizimana, court baliff in charge of the auction. "We can postpone one, two or three times but we cannot continue [to postpone the auction] forever. We have ...

ARM Cement placed under administration

20 August 2018, Published under Cement News

Kenyan cement producer ARM Cement Ltd has been placed under administration. Commercial banks took control of the cement producer in a bid to recover the KES15bn (US$14.9m) owed to them. Nigeria-headquartered UBA Bank was appointed joint administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Friday. Muniu Thoiti and George Weru of PwC took over the management of the cement maker on Friday. Mr Weru said the main task is to take control of the firm after which they will conduct an in-depth anal...

Linus Gitahi is appointed Chair of ARM Cement Board

17 August 2018, Published under Cement News

Linus Gitahi, former Nation Media Chief Executive, has been appointed the Chair of the ARM Cement Board following Wilfred Murungi's retirement. Deputy Managing Director Surendra Bhatia has also retired from the position effective immediately with Thierry Metro appointed as a non-executive, non-independent director. "The Board of Directors take this opportunity to extend its gratitude to the outgoing Chairman of the company and Deputy Managing Director for their immense contribution to the c...

ARM seeks limestone mining permit

15 August 2018, Published under Cement News

ARM is requesting government approval to mine limestone in five areas in Kilifi County, Kenya. The cement producer wants to mine the raw material over 24.931km 2 in the Chonyi, Pangani, Chairing, Maereni and Maseras areas. Kenya’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mining invited objections to the bid to be made within 42 days. This latest application is the third such permitting step following applications to mine in Kajiado and Makueni counties last month. These are currently under considerati...

ARM asks for time after missing bond payment

10 July 2018, Published under Cement News

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed that the ARM Cement missed its June 2018 interest payment on a privately placed bond worth tens of millions of Kenyan shillings. The bond was issued in 2015 with the medium-term notes (MTN) maturing in November 2020 and expected to pay interest each June and December, according to the Business Daily. "We're asking our lenders to give us some time so that we can recapitalise the business, we're in negotiation for injection of between US$15m and US$20...

ARM Cement to relinquish Tanzania assets

18 June 2018, Published under Cement News

ARM Cement will include KES854.6m (US$8.45m) of additional assets in Tanzania to sweeten the deal for buyers of the company’s non-cement business, according to The Citizen. The company reached an agreement to sell its fertiliser and mineral production businesses in Kenya to Swiss firm Omya and Pinner Heights Ltd (PHL), a company owned by its CEO, Pradeed Paunrana, for KES1.6bn. Its latest annual report ARM said that the buyers could also acquire its non-cement operations in Tanzania for f...

CDC changes leadership at ARM to halt the decline

04 June 2018, Published under Cement News

British development financiers CDC have brought in Sophia Bianchi and Rohit Anand as new directors at ARM Cement, to replace replaced Ketso Gordhan and Pepe Meijer, after seeing its investment in Kenya’s Athi River Mining (ARM) plummet buy more than 90 per cent in just three years. CDC reported a KES6.9bn (US$68m) loss for the 2017 financial year on declining sales. The UK-based investment firm had to act to try and halt the slide. "The replacement of two board nominees…bring in subst...

ARM Cement issues profit warning for 2017

13 March 2018, Published under Cement News

Kenya-based ARM Cement has issued a profit warning for the 2017 period, suggesting that the company will post a loss of at least KES3.5bn (US$34.5m). According to a notice sent on Monday, the producer anticipates that the loss will widen by a further 25 per cent from KES2.8bn recorded in 2016.  "The Group’s performance has been adversely affected by difficult market conditions and import ban for coal in Tanzania, by the prolonged and disruptive election period in Kenya, as well as a strai...

CDC seeks ARM divestment

18 January 2018, Published under Cement News

The Commonwealth Development Corp (CDC), the UK government agency that acquired a 42 per cent stake in ARM Cement, is reportedly in talks with several, mostly Asian, companies to sell its shares in the Kenyan cement producer. When it invested in ARM Cement, the agency provided a US$140m cash injection to turn the cement firm around, but this has turned out to be insufficient.