Displaying items by tag: Acquisition
Fosroc invests in Idea Kimya
17 August 2015Turkey: Fosroc, an international construction chemicals group, has announced a major step in its global growth strategy with the agreement to acquire, subject to regulatory approval, a substantial majority shareholding in the Turkish market leader for cement additives, Idea Kimya.
Andre Ladurelli, CEO of Fosroc, said that the acquisition signals a highly ambitious phase of growth. "Our strategy is to continue achieving double-digit organic growth in existing businesses and enter new territories through the formation of new ventures as well as through acquisitions. The acquisition of Idea Kimya is an excellent example of this strategy, demonstrating our commitment to growth while providing a substantial platform for further development in Turkey and its neighbouring countries. Our attitude is that we want to seize the day, lead the market and out-class our rivals on product, expertise and service," said Ladurelli.
Having recently completed new ventures in Myanmar, Vietnam and Iraq and with a host of other projects currently being developed, Ladurelli cited the example of Kenya as one of Fosroc's key future strategic ventures, through which it aims to open up the East African market. Fosroc's sales in the first half of 2015 increased in line with expectation. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 18% year-on-year.
"The integration of Idea Kimya into the Fosroc Group will create new high growth opportunities. Fosroc will provide a thorough range of construction chemicals products and solutions, with the support of their global organisation," said Hakan Gulseren, managing director and one of the founders of Idea Kimya.
Cemex announces sale of its operations in Austria, Hungary and Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia
12 August 2015Europe: Cemex has signed an agreement for the sale of its operations in Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.
Its assets in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia will be sold to Duna-Dráva Cement (HeidelbergCement) for approximately Euro231m. The assets mainly consist of three cement plants (approximately 1.66Mt of cement sold in 2014), two aggregate quarries (approximately 0.16Mt of aggregates sold in 2014) and seven ready-mix plants (approximately 0.25Mm3 of ready mix sold in 2014). Cemex's operations in Croatia, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia had net sales of approximately Euro124m in 2014.
Its assets in Austria and Hungary will be sold to Rohrdorfer Group for approximately Euro160m. The Austrian operations consist of 24 aggregate quarries (approximately 6.47Mt of aggregates sold in 2014) and 34 ready-mix plants (approximately 1.60Mm3 of ready-mix sold in 2014). Cemex's operations in Austria had net sales of approximately Euro217m in 2014. The Hungarian operations being divested consist of five aggregate quarries (approximately 1.36Mt of aggregates sold in 2014) and 34 ready-mix plants (approximately 0.46Mm3 of ready-mix sold in 2014). Cemex's operations in Hungary had net sales of approximately Euro42.2m in 2014.
The proceeds obtained from the transactions will be used mainly for debt reduction and for general corporate purposes. The closing of the transactions is subject to the satisfaction of standard conditions for this type of transaction, which includes authorisation by regulators. Cemex currently expects to finalise the transactions during the fourth quarter of 2015.
US/Japan: Taiheiyo Cement Corp has announced that its California subsidiary CalPortland Co will buy North Carolina-based Martin Marietta Materials Inc's cement business in California for US$420m. Taiheiyo Cement aims to complete the acquisition procedures by the end of September 2015. The acquisition will allow the company to recoup the cement production capacity lost by the discontinuation of output at CalPortland's plant in Colton, California and to establish a cement supply system to meet growing demand in California, Arizona and Nevada.
Holcim Philippines buys Lafarge Republic assets
06 August 2015Philippines: Holcim Philippines Inc plans to expand its market and offer a wider range of construction solutions following its acquisition of Lafarge Republic Inc's Star terminal in Manila and its aggregates business in Rizal. Holcim Philippines president and CEO Eduardo Sahagun said that the purchase is a welcome addition to the company's business.
"These assets further strengthen our ability to provide products and solutions that help our customers and partners in the construction industry," said Sahagun. He said Lafarge's Star terminal would strengthen Holcim Philippines' ability to support customers in Metro Manila and South Luzon, while the acquisition of Lafarge Republic Aggregates Inc, located in Angono, Rizal, would provide the company an established aggregates business. Holcim Philippines closed the deal on 4 August 2015 and paid US$67.5m for the assets.
CRH completes LafargeHolcim acquisition
03 August 2015Ireland: On 2 February 2015, CRH announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire certain assets from Lafarge and Holcim for Euro6.5bn. The deal has now been completed, with the exception of the Philippines, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015.
"Today we extend a warm welcome to 15,000 new colleagues joining CRH. With their expertise and talent on board, combined with the strength of our existing employee base, CRH is a step closer to achieving our aim of becoming the world's leading building materials company. The businesses we are acquiring, which represent an excellent geographic fit with CRH's existing operations, are all strong performers in their respective areas. The integration of these high quality assets, which we have acquired at an attractive valuation and at the right point of the cycle, will strengthen our presence in a number of key markets as well as providing new platforms for strategic growth. The additional scale will help us to improve efficiency, speed up innovation and provide an even better service to our customers," said Albert Manifold, CRH chief executive.
The transaction more than doubles CRH's cement production volumes and will further expand its aggregates and ready-mixed concrete portfolios. The acquired assets consist of more than 685 locations in 11 countries and include:
- The largest cement producer in central Canada; an excellent fit with CRH's existing Americas Materials business;
- Major cement and aggregates operations in western Europe's three largest markets: The UK, France and Germany;
- Leading cement and aggregates companies in the growth regions of central and eastern Europe, creating a strong regional cluster in which CRH becomes the number one heavy-side building materials company;
- Entry positions of scale in two emerging economic regions; Brazil and the Philippines.
With the closure, Tarmac and Blue Circle come together to form Tarmac, under the new ownership of CRH, according to Agg-Net. The company's new branding combines the heritage and innovation associated with the Tarmac name and the unique identity of the Blue Circle logo. The newly combined business is now the market leader in aggregates, asphalt, contracting services, lime and powders and is a leading player nationwide in cement, concrete and other building products.
"This is an exciting evolution for our business. With our new owner CRH in place to support the ongoing development and delivery of our strategic vision, we're in an exceptionally strong position to deliver our growth ambitions and continue creating value for our customers, our shareholders and our employees," said Tarmac's CEO, Cyrille Ragoucy, said. Tarmac has confirmed that there will be no change to its relationships with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.
Italy: HeidelbergCement rushed to buy control of Italcementi after fears that Nigeria's Dangote Cement also showed interest in the Italian cement maker, according to PM News. It has been reported that Dangote did not make a formal offer for Italcementi.
Carl Franklin, head of investor relations at Dangote, said that the company did not comment on specific rumours, but said that "As a large company we examine all options for growth." HeidelbergCement has not commented on whether it had faced competition from Dangote.
According to unnamed sources, the talks between HeidelbergCement and Italcementi began four months ago.
Italcementi chief executive Carlo Pesenti told local media that the deal was 'bulletproof' and there was no space for counter offers. The only outstanding condition was clearance from antitrust authorities. "If it wasn't for the antitrust approval, the shares would have already changed hands," said an unnamed source.
Having already agreed to acquire a 45% stake of Italcementi, HeidelbergCement plans to obtain as many of the remaining shares as possible in the upcoming mandatory buy-out offer, then squeeze out the remaining shareholders and make Italcementi privately-owned.
Italy: Trading in Italcementi was suspended due to an excessive rise on 29 July 2015 after the announcement on 28 July 2015 that German rival HeidelbergCement was buying a controlling stake of 45% at a price of Euro10.60/share, according to ANSA. The share price, which closed at Euro6.59, would have shot up by 50.9%, but trading was suspended.
US: Essroc, part of Italcementi, has acquired the Holcim (US) slag cement grinding plant in Camden, New Jersey, according to MarketLine. As part of the transaction, Essroc will also obtain Holcim's cement terminal in Everett, Massachusetts, US. Upon completion of the transaction, Holcim's staff in Camden and Everett will join Essroc. The transaction is expected to be completed later in 2015. The acquisition will allow Essroc to strengthen its position in the sustainable building products market.
HeidelbergCement to buy Italcementi for Euro3.7bn
29 July 2015Germany/Italy: Germany's HeidelbergCement plans to buy rival Italcementi for Euro3.7bn as it puts its repaired balance sheet to work to follow LafargeHolcim down the path of consolidation, according to Bloomberg.
HeidelbergCement has initially bought Italmobiliare SpA's 45% stake, paying Euro10.6/share or Euro1.67bn total in stock and cash. This transaction was initiated on 28 July 2015 and is subject to approval by competition authorities. HeidelbergCement will next offer the same price for each share held by outstanding investors, once the first transaction has been cleared. The price offered for each share is 61% higher than Italcementi's closing price before the deal was announced.
The deal represents HeidelbergCement's biggest since the Euro11.2bn acquisition of Hanson in 2009. CEO Bernd Scheifele has managed to give the company more breathing space from the debt built up in that ill-timed takeover, allowing him to pursue an expansion just weeks after Holcim and Lafarge completed their industry-transforming merger of the biggest cement companies in Switzerland and France. Analysts have suggested that the Italcementi acquisition could backfire and hurt earnings.
The acquisition of Italcementi will expand HeidelbergCement's operations in Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Egypt as well as in France and Belgium, which combined represent the Bergamo, Italy-based company's biggest market. "With the market recovery gaining traction in southern Europe and the US, it is now the right time for us to accelerate our growth," said Scheifele. The deal gives HeidelbergCement the greatest boost in the Middle East and Africa, doubling its market share in that region to a similar level to Dangote Cement, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. However, it will still lag behind LafargeHolcim there.
HeidelbergCement expects annual synergies of Euro175m by 2018 from the acquisition. The deal will initially be financed through cash and fully underwritten bridge financing of Euro4.4bn by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley. That will partially be repaid by Euro1bn in asset sales and new debt sales. As a result of the takeover, HeidelbergCement expects revenue to top Euro20bn 2020, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of more than Euro5bn. That compares with earlier goals of Euro17bn and Euro4bn respectively. HeidelbergCement's 2014 revenue was Euro12.7bn, while Italcementi generated Euro4.2bn.
New Zealand: The third-largest lime producer in the world, US-based Graymont, has bought the Makareao lime plant in Otago from Holcim and took over the facility on 1 July 2015. Graymont, which has extensive interests in Canada, the US and Mexico, has also bought the McDonald's lime plant at Te Kuiti, Waikato, New Zealand.
Graymont Makareao's operations manager Craig Porter said that the lime plants' output had grown over the last two or three years and that he was excited about the new ownership. Staffing at the plant will not be affected.
Holcim's Weston cement plant project was put on hold in 2013 after it decided to import cement into New Zealand and build two new terminals, including one at Timaru, about four months from the completion of the plant. Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said that Holcim still owns the Weston site, associated quarries for limestone, coal and sand and consent for the cement plant that could be established there.