Displaying items by tag: Acquisition
Swiss CemIn West buys 96.6% of Ivano-Frankivskcement
23 December 2014Ukraine: Switzerland-based CemIn West SA has bought a 96.6% stake in Ukrainian building materials producer Ivano-Frankivskcement. The majority holding was bought from Cyprus-based companies Permixo Ltd, Basmaren Enterprises Ltd and Prenters Engineering Ltd, which sold their respective stakes of 36.98%, 20.76% and 13.3% in the Yamnitsa-based entity. Ivano-Frankivskcement manufactures cement, slate, asbestos cement pipes and concrete products. The plant made a net profit of Euro6.7m in 2013.
Graymont to buy Holcim’s McDonalds Lime for an undisclosed sum
15 December 2014Canada/New Zealand: Canadian lime company Graymont has agreed to buy McDonalds Lime from Holcim New Zealand and Bluescope Steel, owned New Zealand Steel, for an undisclosed sum. The McDonald's sale is subject to regulatory approvals and should be completed in 2015.
Holcim plans to close its Westport cement plant in 2016 and will also sell its Taylor's Lime assets to Graymont. McDonalds Lime is 72% owned by Holcim New Zealand, with the remainder owned by New Zealand Steel. It has the country's largest lime quarry at Oparure, north of Te Kuiti.
Graymont is North America's second-largest supplier of lime and lime-based products and also has an investment in Grupo Calidra, Mexico's largest lime producer. This is the Canadian company's first investment in the New Zealand market.
Holcim has been trying to sell the lime business, which it no longer considers a core business, as it plans for imported cement to replace local production at Westport. It wrote down the value of its Westport cement plant ahead of the coming closure, booking US$24.1m of charges for the plant. The plant will close by the second half of 2016 when new US$77.6m import facilities at Waitemata in Auckland and Timaru are fully operational. Plans for a new cement manufacturing plant at Weston in North Otago remain on hold, but Holcim is keeping the assets so it has the option of 'eventually building a new cement plant.'
Nigeria: Lafarge Africa made a US$122m offer on 10 December 2014 to buy out minority shareholders in its Nigerian business, Ashaka Cement. The offer follows the US$1.35bn merger of Lafarge Africa's Nigerian and South African businesses, which received approval from shareholders in July 2014.
Lafarge Africa said that as part of the merger deal it had acquired a 30% stake in Ashaka Cement, the trigger point for making a full takeover bid under Nigeria's securities and takeover rules.
Under the terms of the offer, shareholders who accept it will receive 57 Lafarge Africa shares for every 202 held in Ashaka Cement and an additional cash payment of US$0.0111/share. The offer will run from 10 December 2014 to 16 January 2015. Shares in Ashaka Cement have gained 17% in 2014.
The consolidation will enable Lafarge, which faces intense competition in Africa, to accelerate growth on the continent. Lafarge Africa owns60% of Lafarge Wapco, its listed subsidiary in Nigeria, 58.6% of Ashaka Cement Plc and 100% of the Atlas cement company. In November 2014, Lafarge Africa entered into an agreement to buy a 30% stake in United Cement Company from Flour Mills of Nigeria, which will give Lafarge's Nigeria Cement Holdings complete control.
UNACEM completes Ecuador acquisition
04 December 2014Ecuador/Peru: Peruvian cement producer Union Andina de Cementos (UNACEM) has completed the purchase of Lafarge's cement operations in Ecuador. "We are pleased with the closing of the transaction, which represents an important step in our growth strategy," said Carlos Ugás, managing director of UNACEM. The company closed the acquisition, which was initially announced in May 2014, for approximately US$517m. The deal involves the purchase of a 1.4Mt/yr cement plant located in Otavalo, in the north of Ecuador.
Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service allows Topkinsky Cement to acquire 25% stake in Iskitimtsement
03 December 2014Russia: Topkinsky Cement, a part of Siberian Cement, has received the Federal Antimonopoly Service's (FAS) permission to purchase a 24.92% voting stake in Iskitimtsement. Siberian Cement's stake will therefore grow to 49.899%. In February 2013 the FAS blocked Sibirsky Cement from acquiring a 90% stake of Iskitimtsement's voting shares.
Iskitimtsement posted a revenue of Euro85m and a net profit of Euro11m in 2013 compared to a revenue of Euro77m and a net profit of Euro16m in 2012. The cement plant holds 17% of the Siberian Federal District's cement market.
Dalmia Bharat buys out SAIL in Bokaro Jaypee Cement
03 December 2014India: Dalmia Bharat has acquired the final 26% stake that it did not already own in Bokaro Jaypee Cement from the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), for US$150m. Bokaro Jaypee Cement has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dalmia. In March 2014 Dalmia acquired Jaypee's 74% holding in the company.
Bokaro Jaypee Cement was formed as a 74:26 joint venture project between Jaiprakash Associates and SAIL, for the operation of a 2.1Mt/yr capacity grinding plant at Bokaro, Jharkhand. The cement produced in the unit was sold through Jaiprakash's distribution network under the brand name 'Jaypee Cement'. However, Jaypee exited the venture and used the proceeds to address its debt.
Russia: Buzzi Unicem has completed the acquisition of 100% of Uralcement from for Euro104m in cash. The acquisition of Uralcement's plant in Korkino raises Buzzi Unicem's annual production capacity in Russia to 4.5Mt/yr.
In September 2014 Buzzi Unicem, via its German wholly-owned subsidiary Dyckerhoff, agreed to acquire Uralcement, subject to regulatory approvals expected by the end of 2014. Having obtained the authorisations, Buzzi Unicem has finalised the agreement for the acquisition of Uralcement's plant in Korkino, south of Chelyabinsk, with a cement production capacity of 1.1Mt/yr.
Buzzi Unicem seeks to boost its position in the Urals region and benefit from the combined production network with Dyckerhoff's plant at Sukhoy Log. Dyckerhoff entered the Russian cement market in 1994 with the acquisition of a stake in Sukholozhskcement.
Lafarge’s Nigeria unit to take complete control of United Cement
11 November 2014Nigeria: Lafarge's Nigerian business has entered into an agreement with Flour Mills of Nigeria to purchase a 30% stake of Nigeria's United Cement Company. The deal will give Lafarge complete control of United Cement Company.
"Pursuant to the agreement, the first 15% stake would be acquired in the first quarter of 2015, while the second 15% stake is scheduled to be acquired by February 2016 at the latest," said Lafarge.
Taiwan Cement buys Sichuan Railway Group Cement for US$111m
05 November 2014Taiwan: Taiwan Cement, is purchasing Sichuan Railway Group Cement for US$111m to expand its presence in China. Taiwan Cement made the purchase through its subsidiary TCC International Holdings. The Sichuan company's production site has a cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr.
Prior to the purchase TCC International operated two cement plants in Sichuan: one in Guangan with a cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr and the other in Chongqing with a capacity of 4Mt/yr. Following the purchase TCC International will boost its capacity to 8Mt/yr. Taiwan Cement said that the acquisition is expected to create synergies for TCC International, helping the company cut operating costs to improve its bottom line.
TCC International reported a 79.6% rise in net profit to US$134m for the first half of 2014. In addition to the purchase in Sichuan, Taiwan Cement said that TCC International will also add a new production line in its Guizhou plant later in November 2014 to boost its production capacity by an additional 1.5Mt/yr.
India's UltraTech acquires 51% stake in Oman's Awam Minerals
04 November 2014India/Oman: UltraTech Cement Middle East Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of India's UltraTech Cement, has acquired a majority stake (51%) in Omani gypsum mining firm Awam Minerals LLC.
Awam Minerals has a license to mine substantial gypsum deposits in the south of Oman. It's gypsum mining license will serve as a captive mine for the network of cement plants owned by UltraTech Cement in India, two grinding units and a cement plant in the UAE, as well as a grinding unit in Bahrain through its Middle East subsidiary.