29 November 2024

Chile: Cementos Bío Bío (CBB) concludes negotiations with Mississippi Lime Company (MLC), according to Diario Financiero. Earlier in November 2024, MLC presented a non-binding offer of US$1.89 per share for 100% of CBB, valuing the company at almost US$500m.

Following this, Yura has now increased its offer to US$1.48 per share, valuing CBB at US$390m, after its original proposal ‘lost attractiveness’ to MLC’s offer. Yura aims to increase its stake to 40% in the company.

MLC said "After months of due diligence and review of the company's operational and financial performance, MLC and CBB's principal shareholders shared a non-binding letter of intent in May 2024 subject to conditions. That indicative offer, and its conditions, expired during this year. The revised indicative offer [from Yura], which is subject to all of the terms and conditions set out in the non-binding letter of intent, attributes an equity valuation of US$400m to CBB.”

US: Zanini Renk has received a repeat order from St. Marys Cement for four additional gearboxes at its Charlevoix, Michigan plant. In 2016, St. Marys Cement's Charlevoix plant began a US$130m upgrade to expand the plant's infrastructure. The project scope included adding a new finish mill, an additional kiln and a new coal grinding system. The 2016 upgrade at St. Marys Cement expanded the Charlevoix plant’s cement capacity from 1.4Mt/yr to 2Mt/yr.

The initial order for a Zanini Renk gearbox was for installation in its vertical roller mill. Zanini Renk completed the gearbox installation in 2022. The first new gearbox has been in operation since January 2023 and the other two new gearboxes will be delivered at the end of November 2024. Installation is expected to be completed by March 2025 and by April 2025.

Philippines: Cemex Holdings Philippines (CHP) sold its entire stake in Swiss-based Cemex Asia Research (CAR) to Cemex Innovation Holding for US$900,459 to streamline its business, according to BusinessWorld. CHP signed a share purchase agreement with Cemex Innovation on 26 November 2024 involving the sale of 118,849 shares. The company is the licensee under certain licence agreements with Cemex and its subsidiaries for certain trademarks and intangible assets, which it sublicensed to CHP and its domestic subsidiaries. Cemex Innovation is an affiliate of Mexican operating and holding company Cemex.

Armenia: The Armenian government has extended restrictions on the import of cement and clinker from Iran and ‘other countries’ for another six months on 28 November 2024.

The restrictions were first adopted on 13 January 2022 and have been repeatedly extended since then. The latest decision takes effect on 20 January 2025 and is valid until 20 July 2025.

As a result, domestic cement production increased to 1.14Mt in 2023, a rise of 13% year-on-year, while clinker imports rose by 125,200t (19%) and cement imports increased to approximately 270,000t. During the first eight months of 2024, cement imports rose to 305,100t, a 260% increase compared to the same period in 2023, due to lower Iranian cement prices. Concurrently, local cement production declined by 31% to 485,900t in the first half of 2024.