September 2024
HeidelbergCement adds new deputy chairman 18 March 2015
Germany: The Supervisory Board of HeidelbergCement AG has amended the structure of its managing board with the addition of a new deputy chairman position. Dominik von Achten, managing board member in charge of the North America group, group purchasing and the competence centre materials, assumed the role on 1 February 2015. It was also announced that Bernd Scheifele would continue as chairman of the managing board for the next five years.
"HeidelbergCement is very glad that both Scheifele and von Achten, together with the management and employees of the company, will continue their successful work of the past years. This step will guarantee continuity in the years to come as well as a trusting and constructive cooperation between supervisory board and managing board," said Fritz-Jürgen Heckmann, chairman of the supervisory board.
Egypt: Lafarge Egypt and Egyptian holding company Orascom Telecom Media (OTMT) and Technology Holding SAE have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a waste management framework of municipal and agricultural waste.
The memorandum, signed by Lafarge Egypt CEO Hussein Mansi and OTMT deputy CEO and COO Tamer el Mahdy, was created in an effort to process large volumes of municipal and agricultural waste into alternative fuels to be used in the Lafarge plant in Egypt and other companies.
The MOU represents a step towards sustainable development in the country and will begin the creation of a circular economy through the reduction of waste burning and dumping. The agreement will also create new employment opportunities and reduce the dependency on fossil fuels in the country.
Lafarge Cement Egypt has been providing thermal treatment solutions in Egypt for around three years in collaboration with its subsidiary Ecocem Industrial Ecology Egypt, which develops, sources and pre-treats solutions to facilitate the recovery of wastes into alternative fuels. Lafarge Egypt and Ecocem aim to achieve an average fuel substitution rate of 25% by the end of 2015.
Sri Lanka/Japan: Japanese cement producers in Sri Lanka Tokyo Cement Lanka and Fuji Cement Lanka Limited have announced that they have merged under the terms of Section 242 (1) of the Companies Act No 7 of 2007. The merger to create Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) plc was completed on 13 March 2015.
India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned its third clinker line at Aditya Cement (AC), Shambhupura in Rajasthan. The plant, which has a 6000t/day kiln and a clinker capacity of 2Mt/yr, can use a wide variety of fuels.
Meanwhile, its greenfield grinding plant in Jhajjar, Haryana is likely to be commissioned in 2016. "With this commissioning, UltraTech Cement will further increase its capacity in the north region," said UltraTech in a statement. "Further, the new grinding plant coming up in Jhajjar will assist us in capturing the growing demand for cement in this region with timely and effective supplies to the customers."
Europe: The boards of Lafarge and Holcim met separately on 17 March 2015 to try and salvage their merger.
According to Reuters, one source said ahead of the Lafarge board meeting that Lafarge would not accept renegotiations on the governance of LafargeHolcim. The original merger agreement designated a board made up of seven members from each company and Lafarge boss Bruno Lafont as CEO. "The board cannot give satisfaction to Holcim on all points," the source said. "It cannot accept both a change of parity and a taking of control."
On 15 March 2015, Holcim said that it wanted to open talks on the exchange ratio and on 'governance issues' because the original merger terms were no longer acceptable to its board. Lafarge said on 16 March 2015 that it would consider revising the share exchange ratio, but nothing else. According to another source, Holcim has proposed changing the previously-agreed 1:1 exchange ratio to 0.875 Holcim shares for each Lafarge share, but Lafarge wants a 0.93:1 ratio.
One Holcim shareholder who opposes the deal reportedly said that the appointment of Lafarge's Lafont as head of LafargeHolcim has become a bone of contention, with some questioning his ability to deliver promised cost savings of Euro1.4bn/yr.
Ireland's CRH, which planned to buy a large portion of Lafarge and Holcim's assets to appease competition authorities, could experience collateral damage if the merger is cancelled. According to Reuters, if the merger fails, CRH is still liable for a break-up fee of Euro158m.
Europe: A conflict between Lafarge and Holcim has deepened as both groups have acknowledged that the terms of their proposed 'merger of equals' may have to be revised to reflect diverging valuations, according to Reuters.
The merger 'Can no longer be pursued in its present form,' said Holcim said in a statement on 16 March 2015. It has proposed a renegotiation of the share exchange ratio and 'governance issues.' Lafarge is willing to consider revising the share-exchange ratio in the merger, but not other aspects of the deal, it said in a separate statement.
The deal announced in April 2014 was intended to combine Lafarge and Holcim on an equal basis, but diverging results, share prices and fluctuations in the Euro and Swiss Franc have led Holcim to seek a revision of the terms. Holcim has proposed changing a proposed 1-1 share exchange ratio to 0.875 Holcim shares for each Lafarge share, according to news reports. Lafarge is said to be planning a counter proposal that would trim its weighting to 0.93 to complete the deal.
India: Jaypee Group is reportedly in talks with HeidelbergCement and JSW Cement to form a joint venture that will control the majority of its cement plants. The plan envisages a separate joint venture entity that will house around 20 – 22Mt/yr of Jaypee's operational plants in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The venture may exclude Jaypee's first cement plant in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, which has approximately 3Mt/yr of cement production capacity.
Attock Cement to set up Iraq unit 16 March 2015
Iraq/Pakistan: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved Attock Cement Pakistan Limited's (ACPL) request to establish a cement production unit in Iraq.
The ECC meeting, chaired by finance minister Ishaq Dar, approved the proposal to allow Attock Cement Pakistan Limited (ACPL) to remit US$24m for the establishment of a grinding plant in Basra, starting from March 2015 onwards. The proposed investment venture is expected to bring foreign exchange through dividends repatriation and growth in clinker exports. As ACPL intends to hire 50% of its labour force from outside Iraq, the venture is expected to create employment opportunities for Pakistanis.
Semey cement plant expands production capacity 16 March 2015
Kazakhstan: The Semey cement plant has been expanded to 1Mt/yr of cement production capacity. In the frame of the Nurly Zhol programme, the most of the cement will be utilised for road construction. The contracts for cement delivery have been already signed.
MI Cement to add new unit soon 16 March 2015
Bangladesh: MI Cement Factory Ltd plans to install new production unit soon to cater the growing demand for cement in the country.
"We have decided to set up another packing unit and a 1500t capacity cement silo to enhance the delivery capacity of our cement (Crown Cement)," said Mohammed Jahangir Alam, chairman of MI Cement. "This will also help maintain the quality of our cement and thus keep the pace of increasing revenue."
Bangladesh is preparing for development in public infrastructure, communication and housing facilities, said Alam. "The cement industry in Bangladesh is headed for a revolution," he said. High population densities in cities, unplanned urbanisation and rapid economic development are likely to expand cities vertically rather than horizontally to achieve maximum utilisation of available space and ensure future food security by not urbanising fertile land, he added.
Quoting a recent study, Alam said that the per capita cement consumption in Bangladesh was still low at 107kg, compared to 210kg in India, 265kg in Pakistan, 310kg in Sri Lanka and 570kg in Korea, indicating future growth of Bangladeshi cement consumption.
At present, MI Cement's total production capacity is 1.74Mt/yr. Alam said that in the fiscal year 2013 - 2014, the political unrest hampered MI Cement's day-to-day business activities and reduced its cement delivery to lower than expected. However, the company increased its revenue by 17% year-on-year to US$102m despite the political unrest. MI Cement sold US$86m of goods in the 2014 fiscal year, up from US$73.2m in 2013 in the previous fiscal year.