Displaying items by tag: GCW208
China: According to Dow Jones, West China Cement expects to report a 'significant decrease' in net profit for the six months that ended on 30 June 2015, compared with the US$25.8m net profit for the six months that ended on 30 June 2014. West China Cement said that the anticipated decline is mainly tied to the low average selling price of cement in the past 12 months. It added that it was unable to maintain 'reasonable selling prices and healthy margins' in the southern part of Shaanxi.
India: Shree Digvijay Cement has announced that the board of directors has appointed Suresh Meher as the company secretary and key managerial personnel under the Companies Act 2013, with effect from 1 July 2015. S N Malpani, present company secretary and compliance officer, relinquished his current position effective from the same date, though he will superannuate from Shree Digvijay Cement on 6 January 2016. The board also approved the appointment of Suresh Meher as compliance officer with effect from 1 July 2015.
KKR backs SIMEC on ABG Cement buyout
02 July 2015India: According to The Economic Times, private equity company KKR will team up with diversified trading and commodities group SIMEC to invest US$142m to take over the cement business of debt-laden ABG Group through a complex, multi-tiered financial transaction. The funding will help ABG's founder promoter Rishi Agarwal to complete the 'last mile' of his much-delayed cement plant project in Gujarat.
The first leg of the 'special situations' transaction, which will be concluded in the coming weeks, will see KKR fund SIMEC to gain a 51% controlling stake in ABG Cements for US$82.6m. This will be followed by an additional US$60.6m of funding collateralised by Agarwal's unencumbered shares in the company. The money will be used to finish the project, fund working capital and pay back overdue creditors.
ABG Cement has been planning a 5.8Mt/yr cement plant in Gujarat since 2010. However, due to significant cost and time overrun, only a 3.3Mt/yr clinker plant at Kutch near the limestone reserves was completed. Agarwal ran out of money to complete the grinding unit at Surat. The plant is ultimately expected to produce slag cements with blast furnace slag coming from Essar Steel. It will be the only slag cement plant in western India.
SIMEC has already made a part payment to show its commitment to the deal. KKR, too, has signed a term sheet with ABG's management. A detailed due diligence process is currently ongoing. In 2014, SIMEC had agreed to buy into ABG's cement business, but the deal was not concluded. Now with KKR's funding, it is expected to close soon.
Romania: According to Romania-Insider, Germany's HeidelbergCement will merge its three subsidiaries in Romania, Carpatcement Holding, Carpat Beton and Carpat Agregate, to form a single company called HeidelbergCement Romania.
Carpatcement Holding has three cement plants in Romania, whereas Carpat Beton owns 18 concrete stations and Carpat Agregate operates 14 quarries and aggregates exploitations. The internal reorganisation process will end in December 2015. HeidelbergCement has invested Euro500m in Romania to date.