September 2024
Martina Merz appointed chief executive officer of ThyssenKrupp 02 October 2019
Germany: ThyssenKrupp has appointed Martina Merz as its chief executive officer (CEO). The current chairwoman of the supervisory board will be delegated to the group executive board for a maximum period of 12 months after which she will return to the supervisory board. Guido Kerkhoff, the current CEO, has agreed to leave the post by mutual agreement.
In addition, the supervisory board has appointed Klaus Keysberg to the executive board of ThyssenKrupp where he will be responsible for the materials businesses on the group executive board. He has held various positions at ThyssenKrupp since 1996 and has been CEO of the Business Area Materials Services since the beginning of 2019. He will continue to hold this position until a successor is appointed.
Siegfried Russwurm will succeed Martina Merz as the head of the supervisory board. The former Siemens executive board member has been a member of the supervisory board since April 2019.
Jules Kortenhorst joins board of Solidia Technologies 02 October 2019
US: Solidia Technologies has appointed Jules Kortenhorst to its board of directors. Kortenhorst is currently the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). Prior to this he was the founding CEO of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) and he also served as a member of the Dutch parliament for the Christian Democratic Party.
Kortenhorst was the CEO for International Operations of ClientLogic Corporation and he worked for almost 10 years for Royal Dutch Shell, including managing director at Shell Bulgaria. He began his career as an analyst at McKinsey & Co.
He currently serves on the Energy Transition Commission and is the co-chair of the WEF Global Future Council on Energy. He also is a non-executive board member of the Energy Web Foundation and an advisory board member of Land Life Company. He holds an MBA from Harvard and a Master’s in Economics from Erasmus University, Netherlands.
India: UltraTech Cement has declared the scheme of arrangement between itself and Century Textiles and Industries as part of its merger process. It will issue one equity share worth US$0.14 each for every eight equity shares of the same value held by the shareholders of Century Textiles and Industries. UltraTech Cement received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the acquisition of the cement business of Century Textiles and Industries in late August 2018 but it faced legal challenges subsequently.
The acquisition further strengthens UltraTech Cement’s lead in the Indian market. It says it is now the only company outside of China to have a production capacity of more than 100Mt/yr in a single country. It also claims that it is the third largest cement company in the world excluding those based in China.
Nigeria: Aliko Dangote, the chairman of Dangote Cement, plans to increase his company’s cement production capacity in Africa by 29% to 62Mt/yr. It aims to add 6Mt/yr in Nigeria in 2020 to support exports to grinding plants in Cameroon and West Africa, according to Bloomberg. The cement producer previously said it had a production capacity of 45.6Mt/yr in 2018 from operations in 10 countries.
Namibia: Ohorongo Cement has marked nine years in a partnership with Transnamib, Namibia’s state railway company. The partnership covers coal transportation from the Port of Walvisbay to Ohorongo’s integrated cement plant at Otavi and despatches of palletised cement. Transnamib also arranged additional train services between Tsumeb and Ondangwa to support shipments to the north of the country.
“We highly value our relationship with Ohorongo Cement as their increased utilisation of rail transport allowed for the implementation of our road-to-rail strategy which have resulted in a reduction of approximately 150 trucks on the road between Tsumeb and Ondangwa,” said Zebby Mukungu, Marketing and Sales Manager at Transnamib.
Yamama Cement to sell old production lines 02 October 2019
Saudi Arabia: Yamama Cement plans to sell its production lines 1 – 5 as part of a move to a new site. The old lines have a combined clinker production capacity of 5600t/day. The lines were ‘temporarily’ shut down in early 2017 due to poor market conditions.
Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement has signed a six-month technical contract with China’s Riga Company to convert its second production line to produce white cement. The contract was signed to coincide with the arrival of the project team that will handle the conversion. No value for the upgrade has been disclosed.
France: Hoffman Green Cement Technologies has launched an initial public offering (IPO) to raise Euro50m on the Euronext Growth market. The company wants to use the funds to build two new plants with a capacity of 0.25Mt/yr in Vendée and in the Paris region, according to the Le Figaro newspaper. Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies inaugurated its pilot plant at Bournezeau, Vendée in 2018. The unit is developing cement products using flash-calcined metakaolin and blast-furnace slag.
Eurocement receives nine new dump trucks from Volvo 02 October 2019
Russia: Eurocement has received nine new Volvo FM 8x4 heavy-duty dump trucks for its Kavkazcement and Maltsovsky Portland Cement plants. The vehicles have a capacity of 32t and include Volvo’s CareTrack telematics system. The cement producer hopes to increase the volumes of limestone it transports from each plant’s quarries by 15%. It has spent Euro1.3m on the new trucks.
Vietnam: SCG Cement – Building Materials Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology have signed a memorandum of understanding for a three-year collaboration on innovation including research, development and human development. The agreement follows work between the two organisations over the last year, according to The Vietnam Investment Review newspaper. They will now form a collaborative expert group to carry out research projects in line with the needs of SCG, to improve product quality, increase labour productivity and accelerate the application of new technologies in production and construction.