September 2024
Heracles Group launches online customer platform 28 September 2017
Greece: Heracles Group, part of LafargeHolcim, has launched Xtizoume Mazi (Building Together), an online platform for marketing, product information and training. Via a new website its customers can find information about Heracles’ products and access training courses. The site will also allow access to the company’s loyalty scheme.
Hosokawa Alpine and Atritor start marketing partnership for ground calcium carbonate 28 September 2017
Germany/ UK: Germany’s Hosokawa Alpine and the UK’s Atritor have started a global marketing partnership to promote their processing equipment for ground calcium carbonate (GCC). The Hosokawa Alpine ANR vertical wet grinding mill will combine with the Atritor Cell Mill slurry drying and powder coating system to provide an offering for superfine GCC products.
“… a partnership with Atritor is a natural step for us to enable customers to produce very fine, dry, coated or uncoated Ground Calcium Carbonate products. This area of the GCC market is growing quickly as more and more customers look to increase the quality of their end products and to enter the market for very fine products,” said Paul Woodward, Division Manager Minerals and Metals at Hosokawa Alpine.
CRH enlarges its North American cement presence 27 September 2017
The last week marked a step change to the US industry with the news that Ireland’s CRH has agreed to buy Ash Grove Cement. The latter is the largest remaining cement producer still owned by an American company. Its history dates back 135 years to its founding in 1882, with links to the Sunderland family for over a century. Following the acquisition, each of the top five cement producing firms in the US will be operated by multinational corporations based in foreign countries.
Although this scenario is not new to many other countries around the world, it is rare for a nation with a cement industry of this scale. The US is the third biggest cement producer worldwide. Out of the top ten cement producing nations Global Cement Magazine identified in its Top 100 Report 2017 feature in December 2016 only Egypt doesn’t have a local company to match the multinationals. China has China National Building Material (CNBM), for example and India has UltraTech cement and so on and so forth.
The actual sale covers Ash Grove Cement’s eight cement plants and 23 cement terminals, as well as its ready mix concrete and aggregate businesses, for US$3.5bn. Altogether its cement plants have a production capacity of 9.5Mt/yr and this really puts into contrast the Cementir Italia deal last week. HeidelbergCement has agreed to buy that company for around Euro57/t. CRH is buying Ash Grove Cement for US$368/t. That’s more that five times as much!
To be fair they are very different markets, with Italy’s cement sector consolidating near the bottom of a business cycle and the US growing with some promise. For comparison with other recent US acquisitions, CRH is offering to pay about the same as Summit Materials did to Lafarge for a cement plant and seven terminals in mid-2015. Other than that a few of the more recent transactions have been between US$200 – 300/t. The gradual price inflation for cement production capacity indicates that there is confidence in the US cement market.
In terms of CRH’s enhanced presence in North America following the completion of the deal, it currently operates two cement plants in the US: the American Cement Sumterville plant in Florida, a joint venture with Elementia, and the Trident plant in Montana. The CRH US division also runs five terminals in the Midwest and Northeast. This compliments Ash Grove Cement’s presence in the West, Midwest and South. Throw in CRH’s Canadian cement plants in Ontario and Quebec and CRH has the makings of a seriously strong cement business in North America. The only obvious impediment could be the close proximity of the CRH Trident plant and the Ash Grove Cement Montana City plant. Both are in Montana within 115km of each other and they are the only integrated plants in the state. A Federal Trade Commission arranged divestment in this location seems likely.
Ash Grove Cement’s chairman Charlie Sunderland, described CRH as his company’s biggest customer when the acquisition was announced. Buying Ash Grove Cement fills in one more piece in CRH’s construction materials puzzle in North America. Its American divisions have generated more than half of its revenue since at least 2014 dominating asphalt, aggregate and ready mix concrete markets. Yet it has lacked a cement market presence to match this. This changes when the deal with Ash Grove Cement completes.
Hendi Prio Santoso appointed as president director of Semen Indonesia 27 September 2017
Indonesia: Hendi Prio Santoso has been appointed as the president director of Semen Indonesia following his approval at a shareholders meeting. He succeeds Rizkan Chandra, who died in July 2017. Santoso is the former president director of state-owned gas company Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN).
Hakan Gürdal appointed managing director of Ciments du Maroc 27 September 2017
Morocco: Hakan Gürdal has been appointed as the managing director of Ciments du Maroc, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement. He succeeds Nabil Francis, according to the Telquel newspaper.
Hakan Gürdal graduated from the Technical University of Yildiz in Istanbul in Mechanical Engineering and from the University of Istanbul with a MBA in International Management. He then joined Çanakkale Çimento in 1992. He became a member of the board of directors of HeidelbergCement in 2016 and has been in charge of the Africa-Eastern Mediterranean region since then. He has been responsible for Purchasing since the start of 2017.
Romania: Mădălina Gogorici has been appointed as the Health and Safety Manager at Holcim Romania, a new position within the company. A biochemistry graduate from the University of Bucharest with a Master’s degree in Ecology and Sustainable Development she holds over 20 years of experience in the field.
Stephan Oehme appointed as Global Sales Director at FLSmidth Pfister and Ventomatic 27 September 2017
Germany/Italy: Stephan Oehme has been appointed as the Global Sales Director of both FLSmidth Pfister and FLSmidth Ventomatic. Oehme, aged 50 years, is an industry expert with more than 20 years experience in the respective business fields. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering and has worked previously as a Director Sales and Technology. In order to support the combined sales force of both companies he will increase the cooperation between both sales teams.
FLSmidth Pfister develops high-end gravimetric dosing systems for the cement and minerals plants. FLSmidth Ventomatic specialises in packaging and delivering solutions for the same sector. Both companies are subsidiaries of Denmark’s FLSmidth.
Votorantim Cimentos to sell stake in Suwannee American Cement 27 September 2017
US: Votorantim Cimentos is selling its 50% stake in Suwannee American Cement based in Florida. The sale is intended to focus Votorantim’s portfolio and reduce its debts according to the Valor Econômico newspaper. The effects of Hurricane Irma are expected to increase the selling time. Votorantim operates the 1Mt/yr Suwannee cement plant in Branford with Anderson Columbia. The cement producer supplies markets in Florida and Georgia.
Vietnam cement sales rise by 6% to 59Mt in first nine months of 2017 27 September 2017
Vietnam: The Vietnam Building Material Association estimates cement sales rose by 5% year-on-year to 59Mt in the first nine months of 2017. This represented 74% of its annual target, according to the Việt Nam News newspaper. 45Mt of cement was sold domestically, an increase of 4%, and 14Mt was exported. Cement production capacity is 86Mt/yr but demand is estimated at 60Mt/yr. The country is predicted to face a surplus of 26Mt in 2017, according to the Vietnam Cement Association.
McInnis Cement inaugurates Port-Daniel–Gascons plant 27 September 2017
Canada: McInnis Cement has inaugurated its Port-Daniel–Gascons plant in Quebec. Provincial Prime Minister Philippe Couillard attended the ceremony. First cement at the 2.2Mt/yr plant was produced in June 2017 and the unit has started commercial production since then. Construction at the site started in mid-2014. However, cost overruns saw the government-backed project delayed and then taken over by an investor.