Displaying items by tag: Acquisition
CRH's My Home Industries to buy Sree Jayajothi Cements
12 August 2013India/Ireland: Following earlier speculation, Ireland's Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) has announced that its 50:50 Joint Venture in India, My Home Industries Ltd has reached an agreement to acquire the shares of Sree Jayajothi Cements, a 3.2Mt/yr cement producer in south India for a value of Euro175m.
Dow Jones reports that the investment will be financed from My Home Industries' existing debt capacity and by equity inputs from the joint shareholders (Euro70m). CRH's equity interest will amount to Euro35m.
PPC to buy Safika Cement for US$35m
07 August 2013South Africa: PPC (formerly Pretoria Portland Cement) has announced details of an agreement to buy a controlling stake in Safika Cement Holdings for US$35.3m, according to a Johannesburg Stock Exchange release.
"We are very excited to be able to add another complimentary business to PPC. This is an important step in our 'Keeping the Home Fires Burning´ strategy. The proposed transaction is subject to approval by the regulatory authorities as well as the conclusion of the due diligence process," said chief executive officer of PPC Ketso Gordhan.
Safika is a blended cement producer that owns five blending plants and one milling operation. It produces blended 32.5N cement under three brands: IDM Best Build, Castle and the Spar Build-It house brand.
Croatia: HeidelbergCement is interested in bidding for the Croatian cement plant Nasicecement, according to HeidelbergCement's regional director Branimir Muidza.
"We are still very interested in the acquisition and we are carefully monitoring the situation of Nasicecement's pre-bankruptcy settlement. If an opportunity arises we are ready to invest," said Muidza to SeeNews. HeidelbergCement has previously held a 8% stake in Nasicecement.
In February 2013 Nexe Grupa, who own Nasicecement, revealed that it had submitted a motion for the opening of a pre-bankruptcy settlement procedure. Its subsidiaries did likewise. Acquiring Nasicecement could compliment HeidelbergCement's strategy in the Balkans as it holds cement plants in Hungary and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Sinoma subsidiary to acquire Wuhai Xishui Cement
26 June 2013China: Sinoma has announced that its subsidiary Ningxia Building Materials has agreed to acquire a 55% equity interest in Wuhai Xishui Cement held by Xishui Strong Year for a cash consideration of US$43m. Wuhai Xishui Cement is currently owned by Ningxia Building Materials (45%) and Xishui Strong Year (55%).
Molins purchases mothballed Cemex assets
14 June 2013Spain: Cementos Molins has signed a contract to acquire the cement production and commercial activities of the 0.9Mt/yr Cemex España facility at Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona. Cemex suspended the cement production activities at the plant and laid off its employees several months ago. It is not known whether or not Cementos Molins will restart production.
HeidelbergCement takes control of Russian plant
19 April 2013Russia: HeidelbergCement has increased its holding in the Russian cement company CJSC Construction Materials from 51% to 100%. The German cement producer did not disclose the cost of the acquisition.
"The purchasing of the remaining 49% in CJSC is another good example of our strategy of low risk bolt-on acquisitions," said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement.
CJSC Construction Material, located in Sterlitamak in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, has a cement production capacity of 1.8Mt/yr using a dry production process. It employs 760 people. HeidelbergCement acquired a 51% stake in the Russian cement company in the fourth quarter of 2010.
India/China: Sinoma International Engineering (Hong Kong) Co Ltd, part of the National Materials Group (Sinoma), has entered the Indian cement equipment production industry with the acquisition of a major stake in LNV Technology Pvt Ltd, based in Chennai, India for US$23.9m.
According to the agreement, Sinoma International Engineering now has a 68% share in LNV Technology, which has become a member of the Sinoma Group. The earlier joint venture partners V C Rao, managing director of the company and LV Technology Public Co Ltd, retain around 16% equity each. Liu Zhijiang, group chairman of Sinoma said that the Chinese firm would bring in its expertise in research and development, design, manufacturing, installation and after sales service to the Indian joint venture. With the venture, LNV Technology expects to be the leading supplier of cement equipment in India in the next five years.
Rao said that LNV Technology would look at setting up engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) capabilities, which are not prevalent in the Indian cement equipment industry. "Sinoma is the only company in the world to do this kind of EPC in the segment. That model is not available in India now, which will be brought in through LNV Technology," he said. Globally 80% of the cement equipment market is cornered by just four companies: Sinoma International, FLSmidth, Polysius AG and KHD.
Sinoma considering European spending spree
27 March 2013China: China Sinoma International Engineering will increase its capital expenditure by 29% to US$1.81bn some of which may be spent on acquiring European companies.
The Chinese state-owned cement equipment manufacturer and cement producer has set aside US$80.5m to acquire mostly foreign cement equipment companies, said chief financial officer Yu Kaijun as reported by the South China Morning Post. "We are in talks to acquire some European cement equipment companies, including German ones."
In the cement equipment sector, Sinoma International would explore opportunities in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, said Sinoma chairman Liu Zhijiang. "It will secure its footing in long-term strategic markets, including Russia and South America and enhance its influence in India," he said.
In 2013 Sinoma International aims to secure more than US$4.83bn of orders for cement equipment with about two-thirds of these originating from outside of China. So far Sinoma International has secured US$1.61bn of orders since January 2013, mostly from abroad. Sinoma will also invest US$956m in expanding cement production capacity in China, a decrease from the US$1.13bn it spent in 2012.
Loesche buys majority of aixergee and aixprocess
31 January 2013Germany: German cement industry supplier Loesche GmbH has acquired the majority of stakes in the aixprocess and aixergee engineering companies based in Aachen, Germany.
aixprocess GmbH develops models and tools for the simulation of complex process and flow-relevant processes and has been providing solutions successfully to customers from the power plant and process engineering sectors for more than 10 years. It has earned its reputation internationally by providing modelling and computation technologies, especially in the area of reactive multi-phase flows.
aixergee GmbH is specialised in the optimisation of production processes in the cement industry and established internationally in the areas of alternative fuel firing, performance improvement, emissions reduction and stabilisation of plant operation. It combines industry-specific knowledge with numerical computation methods customised to meet the requirements of the cement industry in its optimisation concepts.
"Through the incorporation into Loesche Group, a globally well-positioned organisation, we can even better ensure the successful support of our international clientèle," explains Matthias Mersmann who, as Corporate Manager of Technology of Loesche Group, will continue to act as Managing Director of aixergee GmbH.
"We do not intend to act as a single source supplier for every project; however, we would like to offer the best solutions for the challenging tasks of our customers. We are therefore extremely pleased to have been able to ncorporate aixprocess and aixergee, two sector leading companies, into our group. In this way we continue to strengthen our position as a competent partner for the cement, power plant, and natural resource industries," said Dr Thomas Loesche, Managing Partner of Loesche GmbH.
Merger threat to Lagan boss
31 January 2013Ireland/UK: The Irish Times has reported that a rifle bullet was sent to the chief executive of the Ireland-based Lagan Group, Kevin Lagan, during the third week of January 2013 in what is thought to be a direct threat linked to Lagan's proposed merger with part of the Quinn Group, which is based in Northern Ireland in the UK.
The rifle bullet was contained within a cigar box, which had, 'Quinn...is this what you want?' written on it. It had apparently been sent from Northern Ireland.
Lagan said he was 'totally amazed' by the package. He said the group's proposed merger with Quinn Building Products posed no threat to jobs. "In fact it secures the future of both Quinn and ourselves going forward," he said. "This is clearly an attempt to intimidate myself and the Lagan Group at a time when we are engaged in discussions with Quinn on combining our cement and building products businesses."
Lagan said that the person or persons behind the 'crude intimidatory tactic' were obviously not interested in protecting jobs. "We will not be swayed from our determination to complete our discussions successfully," he added.
Seán Quinn lost control of the Quinn Group in April 2011 when a receiver was appointed by the former Anglo Irish Bank. There have since been a number of incidents believed to have been carried out by people angry about what has happened.