Displaying items by tag: corporate
Arghakhachi Cement to issue initial public offering
03 September 2021Nepal: Arghakhachi Cement has announced that it will issue general shares in an initial public offering (IPO) in the 2023 financial year. The exact date of the IPO is to be released later, according to the Republica newspaper. Separately, the cement producer has received certification from the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology to produce 43 grade Ordinary Portland Cement.
Saudi Cement increases holding in United Cement Company
18 August 2021Bahrain: Saudi Arabia-based Saudi Cement has increased its share in its Bahraini subsidiary United Cement Company (UCC) by 37% to 100%. The purchase of additional shares cost it around US$7.5m in May 2021. UCC is an importer and distributor of bulk cement. It operates a marine terminal and was founded in 1999.
Argos North America takes out US$300m loan linked to gender quality and CO2 emission performance
17 August 2021Colombia: Argos North America has taken out a US$300m loan where the interest rate is linked to CO2 emission reduction indicators and the increase in the percentage of women in leadership positions. It will be used to prepay an existing syndicated loan. The loan has been taken out from BNP Paribas Securities, Natixis, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and the Bank of Nova Scotia. This loan is the first linked to environmental, social and corporate governance performance that Argos has signed with international banks.
Egypt: France-based Vicat raised a case against the Egyptian government with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in late June 2021. It concerns its cement production business. Reporting by the Qatar-based New Arab newspaper alleges that the cement producer was forced to reduce its shares in its subsidiary Sinai Cement due to a law stopping foreign ownership of companies operating in the Sinai Peninsula on the basis of security grounds. It reports that Vicat has reduced its shares in its subsidiary to 42% from 56% previously.
Vicat confirmed in its financial report for 2020 that it was in the process of taking legal action locally on the matter of foreign ownership in the Sinai region. It added that an investment of around Euro35m in Sinai Cement had been delayed due to administrative approval time. In July 2021, Tamer Magdy, the country manager for Sinai Cement, told local press that Vicat was keen to continue investing in the market.
Philippines: Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement has underwritten a US$250m capital increase for its subsidiary Taiheiyo Cement Philippines. Nikkei Business Trends News has reported that the company has scheduled six payments between July 2021 and January 2024. The funding will increase Taiheiyo Cement Philippines’ total capital to US$291m.
Securities and Exchange Board of India approves Nuvoco Vistas’ US$670m initial public offering
20 July 2021India: Nuvoco Vistas has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to launch an initial public offering (IPO) of shares worth US$670m. The Hindu newspaper has reported that the offering will consist of a US$201m issuance of shares and a US$469m offer for sale. Around US$180m of the funds will be used to reduce the group’s debts and the remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.
India: Anjani Portland Cement has agreed to acquire a further 3% in Bhavya Cements to bring its stake in the company to 92% from 89%. The group says that its aim is to further consolidate its shareholding. In early June 2021, Anjani Portland Cement completed its purchase of an 83% stake in Bhavya Cements to increase its shareholding to 89% from 6%.
Seven Group takes control of Boral
16 July 2021Australia: Seven Group has increased its stake in Boral to 52% via a 3% equity swap with Macquarie. the company now has effective control of the building materials producer although it assured Boral that it would retain a majority of independent directors, according to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. However, Boral has continued to urge its shareholders to resist the ongoing offer by Seven Group to buy their shares. The takeover bid has been valued at around US$6.5bn. Boral is currently in the process of selling its US fly ash business.
Competition Commission of India approves Synergy Metals Investments Holding’s JSW Cement stake acquisition
15 July 2021India: Synergy Metals Investments Holding has received the Competition Commission of India’s approval via the accelerated ‘green channel notice’ to acquire a minority stake in JSW Cement. The Press Trust of India has reported that the accelerated procedure aims to improve merger regulation through transparent review with a minimal waiting period.
Vote Holcim!
14 July 2021LafargeHolcim became Holcim this week with the launch of its new group identity. It also released a manifesto. Corporate names and logos come and go in the swirl of capital but straight up declarations of intent are rarer. Companies in the normally conservative building materials sector don’t tend to do this. This is more the terrain of political movements. So what’s going on?
Figure 1: From a merger of equals to building progress for people and the planet, the LafargeHolcim and Holcim logos.
Looking at the new logo gives us a few clues. The light grey-brown Tetris-style ‘L’ and ‘H’ letters symbolising the ‘merger of equals’ have gone. In its place come two circular symbols that look like they might connect. Together they give the impression of a slanted figure of eight or a lemniscate (infinity symbol). All of this is set to a few shades of blue and green. Could these two symbols be suggesting recycling or the circular economy? Who knows, but hopefully the advertising agency that came up with it was well remunerated. Luckily for us Holcim’s chief executive officer, Jan Jenisch, explained it, “Today marks a milestone for our company in our transformation to become the global leader in innovative and sustainable solutions.”
The manifesto is clearer. Entitled ‘Building progress for people and the planet’ it lays out some of the problems facing the world, such as population growth, urbanisation and climate change mitigation. It then addresses how Holcim is already tackling these issues and how it wants to go further in becoming part of the answer. This is the big vision so it doesn’t trouble itself with the detail on how, for example, the company is going to eliminate process emissions from clinker production on its journey to net zero. This is after all the big pitch to hearts and minds. It also doesn’t stain its fingers with anything suggesting who is going to pay for this grand noble ambition. We’ll have to wait for the next investor’s event to discover how much of this dream washes over into the private equity and pension fund crowd.
In Holcim’s defence, as one of the world’s largest building materials producers, it needs to carve itself a grand vision to occupy within a future preoccupied with climate change. Pretty much everyone in the developed world uses products manufactured by Holcim and its competitors even if they don’t realise it. Yet they are increasingly becoming more aware of the negative issues raised by environmental campaigners. Over in the developing world, adequate housing and infrastructure provision are live political issues for many as economies grow. Threading the needle to tie these trends together is quite the challenge for Holcim and the others. As a public company it serves its shareholders, but, as a multinational wedged in the middle of the climate change debate cascading into global politics, it ultimately answers to everyone. Hence a mission statement or a manifesto makes sense.
Meanwhile, for a glimpse on the Chinese approach to these kinds of problems, China National Building Materials (CNBM) subsidiary China Building Materials Academy (CBMA) signed a knowledge sharing agreement this week with the Canada-based International CCS Knowledge Centre to collaborate on carbon capture technology. The project plans to start with a 155kg CO2/day pilot on an active cement plant kiln. If successful, the study could lead to CNBM rolling it out across its entire cement operations. This would be hugely significant globally and given the scale of the Chinese industrial sector there’s also a reasonable chance it could happen at speed. If this occurred CNBM could leave the politics to its owner, the Chinese government.