Displaying items by tag: Acquisition

US: CRH has finalised its US$2.1bn acquisition of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) supplier Eco Material Technologies. CRH previously announced the agreement on 29 July 2025. It said that the acquisition is expected to ‘unlock significant future growth opportunities.’

Bangladesh: Crown Cement has approved the purchase of 1.34 hectares of land at West Mukterpur in Munshiganj at a cost of US$1.1m, according to a company disclosure. The acquisition is reportedly part of the company’s ongoing expansion strategy. Crown Cement’s total production capacity currently stands at 5.7Mt/yr, with the new land purchase set to strengthen its manufacturing base.

Carmeuse announced this week that it has acquired a controlling stake in Chile-based Cbb. It said that the transaction strengthened its presence in South America, building on its existing operations in Colombia and Brazil. The move marks a diversification for the Belgium-based lime company. Cbb, formerly Cementos Bío Bío, is a vertically integrated heavy building materials producer with cement and concrete plants, in addition to limestone mines and plants.

The transaction sees Carmeuse take over a 97% share of Cbb for around US$490m. The deal was made public in early August 2025. A public tender offer, as part of the acquisition process, then completed on 11 September 2025. The settlement date, when the share ownership changes and the payment is made, will take place on 23 September 2025. The takeover was able to proceed once the main family-based shareholders of Cbb, who owned around 65%, agreed to the deal. Peru-based cement company Yura, which owned around another 20%, also consented. It sold its share for around US$100m.

The takeover of Cbb has been a while in the making and has involved different parties. It first became apparent to the public in late 2024 that Peru-based Grupo Gloria, the owner of Yura, had launched a bid to buy an additional 20% share. The board of Cbb rejected the offer, which appraised the full company at just under US$400m, as undervalued. Around the same time, Cbb revealed that US-based Mississippi Lime Company (MLC) had made its own takeover bid in May 2024 for around US$500m. However, MLC then withdrew its offer. Both Yura and MLC reportedly made their approaches in conjunction with some of the local family-based major shareholders. Also, note the interest by another lime company in Cbb.

Jump forward nine months and the deal appears done. Yet, as mentioned above, Carmeuse is buying more than just a lime producer. Cbb operates three integrated cement plants and one grinding plant in Chile. It also runs a grinding plant at Matarani, in the south of Peru. Global Cement Directory data suggests that the plants in Chile have a cement production capacity of over 3Mt/yr. This places the clinker capacity cost at around US$160/t. However, the capacity utilisation rate is likely to be low at present given that the company reported cement despatches of 1.2Mt in 2024. In addition, Cbb runs 27 ready-mixed concrete plants, two lime plants and three limestone mines in Chile. In Argentina it operates a lime plant and a lime mine. The company reported lime despatches of 0.83Mt in 2024.

Cbb recorded sales revenue of US$204m for cement and US$174m for lime. Pertinently, it noted a profit of US$2.26m for the cement division but one of US$35m for the lime one. Although, to be fair, sales revenue and profit grew year-on-year for both divisions. For the cement sector, the company said that the industry had experienced one of the “most severe crises in 2024 in the last 30 years.” It reported a decline in new construction projects due to rising material costs, higher credit requirements, low business confidence and a poor general economy. Ratings agency Humphreys noted, in a report on the cement sector in Chile in December 2024, that Cbb had improved its earnings margin in recent years due to the performance of its lime division.

Carmeuse’s acquisition of Cbb is a major change for the cement sector in Chile following declining cement despatches since 2021. From here one question is whether Carmeuse wants to run a cement and concrete business in Chile. The current state of the cement market in Chile, Carmeuse’s expertise in lime and the profitability of Cbb’s lime division, are three reasons why it might decide to divest this part of the business at a later date. On the other hand, Carmeuse’s expertise running rotary lime kilns could certainly feed into a new cement division if it chose to. MLC’s earlier interest in Cbb and a lack of many other cement companies being linked to the divestment also suggest that the focus has firmly been on the lime side of Cbb’s business. The one cement company that was interested, Yura, has links to lime too. Sister company Cal & Cemento Sur runs a lime plant in Puno Region in Peru, with US$100m plans for a new lime plant in Lima also in the works. The future of the cement division of Cbb is likely to be watched closely.

The FICEM Technical Congress 2025 has been taking place this week in Lima, Peru

Kenya: On 16 September 2025, the Kenyan government directed the East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) to pursue a share buyback of a 29.2% stake owned by Switzerland’s Holcim, in what looks set to derail the sale of the shares to a Tanzanian tycoon.

The planned sale of the EAPCC shares to the Tanzanian investor Edhah Abdallah Munif had raised concerns in Parliament over the discounted cost of the deal, which had been set to take place at just half of the company’s stock price. Legislators have queried why shares in the asset-rich firm were being sold at a knock-down price.

Under the terms of the Tanzanian deal, Munif had been set to buy 26.32 million EAPCC shares from Holcim using an investment firm known as Kalahari Cement for a total of US$5.6m, which values the company at US$19.2m. Its share price on 17 September 2025 suggested a value of around US$38.5m.

To proceed with the share buyback, EAPCC must get approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). The maximum share buyback price is 10% more than the average price over a month, while the minimum is the prevailing price on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

Philippines: Japan-based Sumitomo Osaka Cement has bought a 15% stake in Philcement, according to a stock exchange disclosure. The agreement, signed on 16 September 2025 between Philcement, its parent company Phinma Corporation, and Sumitomo Osaka, covers the issuance of primary shares. The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2025, subject to standard conditions.

Once the deal is complete, Phinma will remain as Philcement’s majority shareholder, with a 60% stake. Philcement has expanded significantly in the past few years, with a 2Mt/yr integrated plant in Davao del Norte due to be commissioned in 2026.

Here we go! China-based Huaxin Cement delivered a one-two combo this week by first announcing that it had completed its acquisition of Lafarge Africa from Holcim and then revealing plans to amalgamate all of its overseas businesses into a single subsidiary. The first action feeds into the second but it’s a big move for the international ambitions of the company.

Global Cement Weekly has previously covered Huaxin Cement’s deal to buy Holcim’s majority stake in Lafarge Africa for US$1bn. After being announced in December 2024 the transaction was expected to close in 2025 subject to the usual regulatory approvals. However, various impediments emerged. In March 2025 local press reported that the Senate of Nigeria asked the Bureau of Public Procurement to scrutinise the sale on the grounds of national security and economic sovereignty. A Senate Committee on Capital Market then said in May 2025 that it was going to invite Lafarge Africa for questioning to ‘ensure shareholder rights and transparency of foreign dominance in Nigeria's cement industry.’ Local company and Lafarge Africa shareholder Strategic Consultancy then initiated a legal action to try and block the sale on the grounds that it was conducted secretly and without giving local shareholders the option to buy the shares themselves. These are just the issues that have made the local press. There may be more. The transaction officially closed on 29 August 2025 with Huaxin Cement paying around US$774m. Huaxin Cement is now the majority owner of Lafarge Africa with a 83% share.

Huaxin Cement’s decision to create a specific overseas subsidiary makes sense given the growing size of the business. Its stated aim is to fulfil the group’s “long-term strategic goal of building a world-leading multinational building materials company." The acquisition of Lafarge Africa is one big milestone along this path. In the group’s half-year report, also out this week, it said it had an overseas cement grinding capacity of 24.7Mt/yr with operations in 12 countries including Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Oman, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The new company will make and sell cement, technical services, ready-mixed concrete and aggregates. Notably, it will also specialise in the co-processing of alternative fuels. That last one is mostly implicit in any modern cement enterprise these days but as thermal substitution rates rise in developing markets there are likely to be many battles for commodities and market share ahead. It says it wants to create a new overseas subsidiary in order to “further broaden financing channels, open up and integrate resources, and enhance the operational capabilities of Huaxin Cement.” The plans are reportedly at an early stage, but the new subsidiary will remain under the control of Huaxin Cement in China. The focus on finance also seems particularly important, as the company wants to use its new subsidiary to improve its competitiveness and flexibility in overseas capital markets to help it with financing and mergers and acquisitions. To this end, the new company will be listed on an overseas stock exchange. Hong Kong might be the first contender for that ‘overseas’ bourse with its differing economic and legal systems, whilst remaining firmly Chinese.

To finish, let’s compare the contrasting business strategies of Holcim and Huaxin Cement over the last decade. Lafarge and Holcim merged in 2015, later becoming Holcim as it is today. The company divested many of its assets around the world - including Lafarge Africa, diversified into building systems and spun-off its North American division into Amrize. Huaxin Cement became one of the biggest cement companies in the world as the Chinese sector peaked in the 2010s but has also developed into the leading Chinese cement company overseas. That business outside of China has helped Huaxin Cement to make profits in recent years despite the domestic industry declining in the 2020s. Today, many large-scale cement company divestments all over the world are often linked to Huaxin Cement. Its new overseas company, whatever it is called, is likely to become well known across the world.

Ukraine/Ireland: Divinereach, a company led by Hyundai Ireland chair Eugene O’Reilly, has bought a 25% stake in Dyckerhoff Ukraine from CRH, according to Business Post Ireland. The sale was a condition of CRH’s 2024 acquisition of Dyckerhoff from Italy-based Buzzi.

Local competitor Kovalska has opposed the Dyckerhoff acquisition, arguing it created a duopoly with CemIn West and gave CRH a 46% market share, exceeding limits under Ukrainian and EU monopoly law.

CRH has defended its position, saying the acquisition was completed in accordance with accepted international practice, in full compliance with all legislative requirements and with the approval of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU).

CRH said “While we are monitoring the legal challenge to the AMCU approval in Ukraine... we are focused on investing in our businesses and supporting our employees.”

Kovalska plans to appeal the AMCU’s approval of the acquisition to the Ukrainian supreme court in September 2025.

South Africa: Afrimat has recorded signs of recovery in the second quarter of its 2026 financial year, supported by the integration of Lafarge South Africa and cost savings from migrating Holcim systems onto its platform. The company said that July 2025 marked its highest monthly cement sales since acquiring the business, with both bulk and bagged sales rising.

Afrimat said “Our diversified model ensures the correct deployment of resources across operations. After each acquisition, we allowed time to stabilise distressed assets... we are now beginning to see a steady turnaround.”

The company said it has invested ‘heavily’ at the Lichtenburg cement plant to address historic underinvestment, though kiln reliability remains a constraint. It said “By reducing reliance on costly and environmentally taxing components and incorporating extenders such as fly ash and slag, both abundantly available to Afrimat, we can supply compliant, cost-effective and lower-carbon cement products to the market.”

Kenya: A group of four flour mill owners and associates has acquired Savannah Cement for US$29.4m, according to local press. The producer had been under administration for two years after it owed lenders KSB and Absa Bank debts of US$108m. The Competition Authority of Kenya approved the deal on 25 August 2025 without conditions, saying it posed no competition or public interest concerns.

India: UltraTech Cement says that it will surpass a production capacity of 200Mt/yr in the 2026 financial year, one year ahead of its original 2027 target. Chair Kumar Mangalam Birla said the company’s consolidated capacity stood at 188.8Mt/yr in March 2025, after adding 42.6Mt/yr during the 2025 financial year, including 16.3Mt/yr from organic expansion and 26.3Mt/yr from acquisitions, notably India Cements and Kesoram Industries.

The producer operates 34 integrated cement plants, 30 grinding units and 9 bulk terminals across India.