September 2024
Cementir Holding moves registered office to the Netherlands 07 October 2019
Netherlands: Cementir Holding has moved its registered office to the Netherlands. The building materials producer approved the decision in late June 2019. The transfer will not affect the company’s listing on the Italian Stock Exchange or its tax residence, which will remain in Italy. At the time chairman Francesco Caltagirone, Jr said that the decision to move the company’s headquarters was a, “purely technical choice that in no way disregards our group's deep Italian roots.”
Cementir Holding is a multinational manufacturer of grey and white cement, ready-mixed concrete, aggregates and concrete products, exporting to over 70 countries worldwide. It is a global leader in white cement and the group employs approximately 3100 people in 18 countries. The group sold its principal Italian business, Cementir Italia, and its shares in related companies to Italcementi in early 2018.
US: People living near the Cemex Lyons cement plant in Colorado have complained about dust emissions. The Save Our St. Vrain Valley group has filed a report with Boulder County Public Health about dust clouds rising from site, according to the Associated Press. The local authorities say that the clouds don't appear to violate any existing regulations but Cemex officials have promised to look into the issue. The cement producer has also said that it has ways to mitigate dust emissions and it welcomes hearing from people so it can address any concerns.
Staff at Ash Grove Cement, GCC and Lehigh Hanson win 2019 John P Gleason, Jr Leadership Awards 07 October 2019
US: Staff members at Ash Grove Cement, GCC and Cemex have won awards at the Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) 2019 John P Gleason, Jr Leadership Awards. The awards recognise PCA members who have exhibited leadership in advancing industry programs and initiatives. The scheme is named after John ’Jay’ Gleason, who served as PCA president from 1986 until his retirement in 2007.
Curtis Lesslie, Vice President of Environmental Affairs at Ash Grove Cement, won the Business Continuity award. He has served on the PCA’s Environment and Energy Committee working on numerous environmental initiatives that benefit sustainability and continuity of cement manufacturing. He has promoted information sharing and benchmarking between companies and supported PCA's Occupational Health and Safety Committee as well as the PCA-MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) alliance
David Gray, Market Manager, GCC of America won the Market Development award. The PCA said that he had been a consistent example to industry professionals, customers, and industry associates on how promotion can be both a “fun and rewarding experience.” At the customer level he has raised awareness of the potential gains for cement and concrete in a broad range of construction markets and helped companies and associations create successful promotion initiatives.
Nathan Kimball, Vice President, Safety & Health, Lehigh Hanson won the Young Leaders award. He is an active member of PCA’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee. His work with Mine Safety and Health Administration leaders through information exchange and engagement has helped advance the shared interests of the industry.
Aggregate Industries buys Maxi Readymix Concrete in the UK 07 October 2019
UK: Aggregate Industries has acquired Maxi Readymix Concrete, an independent readymix concrete (RMX) business based in Leicestershire and the East Midlands. The company operates a Betomix 2.66m3 twin shaft wet batch plant capable of producing 110m3/hr of compacted concrete with a silo capacity of 400t and aggregate capacity of 650t. It was supplied by Germany’s Liebherr and commissioned in 2014.
Hanson opens new concrete plant in southern UK 07 October 2019
UK: Hanson has opened a new ready-mixed concrete (RMX) plant in Rochester, Kent, to supply growing demand for construction projects in the South East. The new unit replaces the subsidiary of HeidelbergCement’s former concrete plant in the town. The group says it provides increased capacity, improved productivity, lower power consumption and reduced ongoing maintenance costs.
Romania/Switzerland: Romania’s anti-trust authority has completed its review of LafargeHolcim’s takeover of the precast concrete manufacturer Someco for an undisclosed sum. SeeNews has reported that the body found that “no significant obstacles to effective competition” were raised by the deal.
Somaco’s five precast concrete and one aerated concrete block production plants, which employ 750 people, made sales of Euro56m in 2018.
Nigeria: Lafarge Africa CEO Michael Puchercos re-introduced the company’s fast-setting and early-strengthening Supaset cement at a product launch in Lagos on 2 October 2019. The Guardian Nigeria has reported that the new and improved Supaset has been specially refined to suit climate conditions across the country. In line with the ‘Building for Growth’ pillar of its Strategy 2022, the cement is packaged in horizontal bags for ease of block making.
US court will hear anti-trust proceedings against Lafarge North America, Argos USA and others 03 October 2019
US: A court in South Carolina has ruled against a dismissal motion submitted by Lafarge North America, Argos USA and six other manufacturers of ready-mix concrete which stand accused of fixing prices, rigging project bids and allocating territories and customers amongst themselves. Class Action Reporter has stated that the defendants asserted that the complainants, who claim to have suffered injury by the alleged conspiracy, have failed to provide actionable facts pertaining to the role of each accused party, the duration of the purported anti-competitive behaviour and its geographic scope including the court’s jurisdiction. Lafarge further contested that the Statute of Limitations precludes its prosecution, because it ceased concrete trading in the region in 2011. The court concluded that the claim contained sufficient fact for further examination to be reasonably expected to reveal evidence of an illegal agreement. It will hear the case against all defendants.
HeidelbergCement buys American and more 02 October 2019
No overarching theme this week but rather four changes of note in different markets. The first is Lehigh Hanson’s agreement to buy the integrated Bath plant in Pennsylvania, US, from Giant Cement, a subsidiary of Mexico’s Elementia. Lehigh Hanson, a subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement, plans to pay US$151m for the 1.1Mt/yr unit giving it a cost of US$137/t of cement capacity. That’s a similar price that Elementia paid when it acquired Giant Cement in 2016. The Mexican conglomerate paid US$220m for a 55% stake in 2016 for three cement plants with a combined production capacity of 2.8Mt/yr or US$143/t.
The purchase by HeidelbergCement draws a line following problems selling its business activities in Ukraine. The group blamed a drop in profit in the first half of 2019 on this. Since then though it has been linked to a takeover of UltraTech’s stake in Emirates Cement, the owner of the 0.5Mt/yr Emirates grinding plant in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Buying a cement plant in North America, its second most lucrative region after Western and Southern Europe, looks set to be a wise investment.
The timing here is interesting given that Elementia, the building materials company partly-owned by ‘Mexico’s richest man,’ Carlos Slim, has been steadily expanding in recent years. As stated above it only acquired Giant Cement in 2016. However, its net sales and earnings fell in the second quarter of 2019 caused by a market contraction in Mexico affecting all of its businesses. Sales from its cement businesses in the US and Central America grew but they fell by 6% at home in Mexico. Elementia said that proceeds from the sale of the Bath plant will be used for debt repayment and ‘general’ corporate purposes. Notably, Ricardo Naya Barba, the president of Cemex Mexico, has also described the local market as ‘difficult’ this week, in comments reported upon by local media.
Meanwhile in Africa, China’s Huaxin Cement purchased Maweni Limestone from Athi River Mining (ARM) Cement in Tanzania as part of the latter’s on-going administration process. Local press reported the transaction as costing US$116m and subject to regulatory approval. This one’s interesting because it shows a major Chinese cement producer buying related assets outside of China. This is likely part of the country’s Belt and Road Initiative to develop industry and infrastructure around the world and to give its overproducing industries new markets. Perhaps the surprise here is that Huaxin Cement hasn’t gone after the rest of Kenya’s ARM Cement… yet.
The other African news story of note this week was the confirmation that Singapore’s International Cement Group (ICG)’s intended purchase of Schwenk Namibia had failed. This deal was announced in March 2019 but it later ran into trouble when the Singapore Exchange blocked the proposed acquisition in June 2019 on the grounds that ICG didn’t appear to have the money to pay for it.
Lastly, Yamama Cement announced that it wants to sell its Production Lines 1-5, which have a daily clinker production capacity of 5600t/day. The producer previously temporarily shut down the lines in 2017 and it has been planning to build a new cement plant. Since then though it has faced shrinking sales and profits in the tough Saudi Arabian market.
The takeaway from all of this is that, despite the doom and gloom of a world producing too much clinker, some cement companies are targeting growth in specific territories. Sometimes these schemes succeed, as in the case of HeidelbergCement and Huaxin Cement, and sometimes they don’t, as ICG has found out. Heavy building materials like cement are costly to move around so a plant or assets in the right place at the right time can make a fortune.
Naheed Memon appointed chairperson of Thatta Cement 02 October 2019
Pakistan: Thatta Cement has appointed Naheed Memon as the chairperson of its board of directors. She succeeds Khawaja Muhammad Salman Younis, who left the role on 23 September 2019.