Displaying items by tag: Expansion
Oyak Group eyes LafargeHolcim assets amid expansion
14 November 2014Turkey: Oyak Group, Turkey's military pension fund, has US$2bn in cash for acquisitions and may spend some of it on assets being divested by Lafarge and Holcim.
Oyak is interested in Holcim and Lafarge businesses in countries including Romania, Serbia and Hungary, according to Celal Caglar, Oyak's head of the cement and automotive unit. Holcim and Lafarge need to sell units to gain regulatory approval for their planned merger to form LafargeHolcim. In Europe, regulators have set a 15 December 2014 deadline to either approve the deal or open a deeper investigation.
"We are interested in bidding as Oyak or together with a European group," said Caglar. Oyak has US$2bn in cash for acquisitions and can leverage it more than five times if needed, he added. "We are closely following the sale process."
On 10 November 2014 Oyak completed the purchase of Turkey's Denizli Çimento from Ireland's CRH and Turkey's Eren Holding AS for between US$400m and US$450m, as part of Oyak's expansion plans. Oyak has a cement production capacity in Turkey of 20.1Mt/yr, or 19% of the country's market share, through its six plants, including Denizli. It has a clinker production capacity of 10.3Mt/yr, or 15% of Turkey's total. Oyak expects Turkey's cement market to grow by 5% in 2015 after an estimated 6% in 2014, helped by projects including highways, a road tunnel under the Bosporus, stadium constructions and new metro lines.
Thang Long Cement to construct a second 2.3Mt/yr line
13 November 2014Vietnam: Semen Gresik is reportedly preparing to double the annual production capacity of 2.3Mt/yr of the Thang Long Cement plant in Hoanh Bo District, Quang Ninh Province, through building the second production line. The Thang Long Cement 2 project is on the list of projects approved by the prime minister in 2011 for investment during the 2016 - 2020 period and features in the country's sectoral master plan. Semen Gresik acquired a 70% stake in Thang Long Cement for US$157m in 2012.
Cimerwa to increase cement production by 500,000t/yr
03 November 2014Rwanda: Rwanda's sole cement producer, Cimerwa, plans to increase its production capacity to 600,000t/yr when ongoing expansion works are completed early in 2015, according to Busi Legodi, Cimerwa's CEO. Legodi said that over 94% of the US$170m works have already been completed, with electrical installations and some minimal mechanical works remaining.
"The plant should be ready by the end of the first quarter of 2015," said Legodi. "Once completed, our production capacity will increase from the current 100,000t/yr of cement to 600,000t/yr." Market demand for cement currently stands at about 500,000t/yr and the country depends mostly on imports.
Meanwhile, Cimera has rebranded its corporate identity as it marks 13 years of existence. According to Sam Kasule, the Cimerwa commercial manager, the new corporate identity reflects the direction the firm is headed.
"Our new corporate identity is significant and suits the company's future plans and business focus as we look to expand our production capacity in coming months. We are also looking at growing our external markets in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi," said Kasule.
He noted that the firm would also deepen its corporate social investment programmes, thanks to partnership with its strategic investor PPC, to deliver technical expertise, ensure sustainable production and meet market demand.
US: Mitsubishi Cement is seeking to expand its import terminal at the Port of Long Beach, California, for the more efficient handling of operations. Port officials have released a draft report reviewing the potential environmental impacts of the project being proposed by Mitsubishi Cement. A hearing for the draft is set to place take on 22 October 2014.
Mitsubishi Cement wants to reconfigure a cement import facility on Pier F into the space that was formerly used by the Pacific Banana facility. The project calls for adding storage for 40,000t of products, new ship unloading equipment and a new air pollution control system. It would also feature up to two additional truck-loading lanes that would be built underneath the silos. Each new silo would be up to 60ft in diameter and 160ft tall and would have a storage capacity of 10,000t and be capable of being loaded directly from a ship.
If approved, construction could begin as early as 2016, according to Lou Baglietto, spokesman for the project. Baglietto said that while the company is expanding its footprint, it is not expanding its throughput. The project would allow Mitsubishi to handle operations more efficiently. However, the move would position Mitsubishi for expected rises in cement demand as more residential and public works project come online.
"The economy is cyclical and I think there will be a demand for that," said Baglietto. "We want to be ready for that."
JSW eyes up Kerala for new business
08 October 2014India: JSW cement, the largest producer of slag cement in India, is reported to be eyeing up the coastal state of Kerala as a location into which to expand. The company is aiming at 9 - 10% growth from states in southern India in 2014, according to Pankaj Kulkarni, Director of JSW Cement Ltd.
It says that the focus will be on selling its Portland slag cement (PSC), which is highly-resistant to corrosion both from the soil and sea. This perfectly matches conditions in Kerala, which has a long coastline and severe monsoon.
The company is also looking at expanding its clinker production capacity in the near future by setting up a plant in Chittapur in Karnataka. Growth in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kochi will lead the way in the Southern market, according to Anil Kumar Pillai, CEO of JSW Cement Ltd. He added that JSW Cement, part of JSW Group, has made significant investments into cement manufacturing and will continue to add capacity to serve the burgeoning cement market.
JK Cement completes expansion
03 October 2014India: JK Cement has commenced production and dispatch of cement from an expansion project at its cement plant in Mangrol, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. The plant, which started production in 2001 at a rate of 0.75Mt/yr, had a capacity of 1Mt/yr prior to the upgrade. The company has plans to eventually increase the plant's capacity to 3Mt/yr in the future.
One of the largest cement makers in northern India, JK Cement is also a major producer of white cement. It exports to South Africa, Nigeria, Singapore, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, UAE and Nepal.
Wonder Cement plans expansion
01 October 2014India: Wonder Cement Limited is planning to expand the capacity of its cement plant at Tehsil Nimbahera in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan. The company has placed an order with Gebr. Pfeiffer for raw meals and coal mills.
Azerbaijan: Corporation Accord has reported that LLC Gazakh Cement Plant has started clinker production. It reports that the company will increase its rate of production to 70% by mid-September 2014 before ramping up to 100% of its 2500t/day (~0.8Mt/yr) clinker capacity in October 2014.
There are plans for the Sinoma-built plant to undergo capacity expansion in the coming years, with an increase to a capacity of 3Mt/yr of cement in 2017.
Dangote breaks cover
20 August 2014Of the five African cement news stories in this edition of Global Cement Weekly, three concern the actions of Nigerian cement giant Dangote Cement. This week it has announced a new captive power plant in Nigeria and the fact that Sephaku Cement, which is owned by Dangote to the tune of 64%, is now in a position to produce cement from its Aganang plant in South Africa. These two items are fairly typical of the type of announcement that Dangote makes in the African market, and the high frequency with which it makes them. It is the third story, of course, which is unusual.
We have heard, for a couple of years now, that Dangote has designs on becoming a pan-African cement giant. Certainly it is the pre-eminent producer in west Africa, with its influence rapidly spreading to the east, north west and south of this vast continent. Few others, (but perhaps South Africa's PPC), can claim to have such influence and, unopposed, there seems no limit to Dangote's ambitions.
This week we heard just how bold those ambitions are. For the first time Africa's No. 1 cement producer has said that it wants to break out of Africa and enter new markets. No longer satisfied with operating at home, a company release has identified the Middle East and Latin America as potential hunting grounds, either for new capacity or acquisitions. The proposed list of LafargeHolcim cast-offs, which includes few assets in either region (LINK), will also have received significant attention in the Dangote boardroom.
The selection of the Middle East and Latin America, however, is not accidental. The Middle East is a high growth area and provides a platform for possible 'pincer-movement' expansion into more impenetrable markets in central Africa like Chad and (South) Sudan. The Middle East also means proximity to India. Dangote may also want to dampen the influence that Indian, Pakistani and Iranian exports have in the region. Potential tie-ups with Dangote's growing operations in east Africa are clear.
The selection of Latin America, on the face of it at least, is less obvious. There are numerous strong and growing local and regional producers. Not least of these is Colombia's Cementos Argos, which has increased its influence in the USA through strategic acquisitions. There are also numerous domestic large Brazilian producers but Dangote may feel like there is room for more to joint the party. Cade, the Brazilian competition authority, has certainly agreed that competition could be improved in Brazil following its recent investigations. Could Brazil be a prime target?
Wherever Dangote decides to play its first non-African card, it will be a major step for the company and African cement producers. How long until we see the first African-owned cement plant on another continent?
World: Dangote Cement is preparing to expand its cement production plants beyond the continent of Africa to the Middle East and Latin American countries. The company is optimistic that the planned investment will propel it to be ranked among the top 10 global cement manufacturers.
"We are currently operating in 14 African countries and we shall soon move across the continent to other continents," said Sunday Adondua, deputy general manager of production at the Ibese plant in Nigeria. "By the time we have consolidated our hold in the African markets, we shall go beyond the borders. Specifically, we are targeting the Middle East and Latin America. The idea is to be a world leader in cement production. We are also planning to start a plant in Mauritania and we are also planning projects in Gabon."
The Dangote Ibese plant in Nigeria has undergone recent upgrades, including the construction of new production lines. Lines 3 and 4 will be commissioned by the end of 2014, which will double the plant's cement production capacity to 12Mt/yr. Line 3 is complete and line 4 is 96% complete. As a result of the works, Dangote's three Nigerian cement plants in Ibese, Obajana and Gboko, will have a combined production capacity of 29.2Mt/yr.