Displaying items by tag: Akmenes Cementas

Lithuania: The Lithuanian Competition Council has permitted Germany-based Schwenk Zement to increase its stake in Akmenes Cement to 97% from 47%. The markets authority also granted permission for Schwenk Zement’s 75% acquisition of limestone and clay producer Kalcitas and 100% acquisitions of building materials suppliers Cemeka and Lanku Bokstai.

Lithuania: Germany-based Schwenk Zement has sought to increase its stake in 50% subsidiary Akmenes Cement to 97%. The company is also seeking the acquisition of a 75% stake in limestone supplier Kalcitas. The producer took over Mexico-based Cemex’s stake in Akmenes Cement in 2019.

Latvia: Cemex Latvia will be renamed as Schwenk Latvija following its acquisition by Germany’s Schwenk in February 2019. In Sweden Cemex’s operations will be renamed to Schwenk Sverige, in Norway to Schwenk Norge and in Finland to Schwenk Suomi, according to the Latvian News Agency.

The Euro340m deal included one 1.7Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Broceni, Latvia, as well as four aggregates quarries, two cement quarries, six ready-mix concrete plants, one marine terminal and one land distribution terminal in that country. The assets divested also include Cemex’s approximate 38% indirect interest in a 1.8Mt/yr cement plant in Akmene in Lithuania. In addition, the exports business to Estonia is also included as part of the divestment.

Europe: Cemex has signed a deal to sell its assets in the Baltic and Nordic countries to Germany’s Schwenk for Euro340m. The transaction is expected to complete within the first quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approval.

The Baltic assets being divested consist of one 1.7Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Broceni, Latvia, as well as four aggregates quarries, two cement quarries, six ready-mix concrete plants, one marine terminal and one land distribution terminal in that country. The assets divested also include Cemex’s approximate 38% indirect interest in a 1.8Mt/yr cement plant in Akmene in Lithuania. In addition, the exports business to Estonia is also included as part of the divestment.

The Nordic assets being divested consist of three import terminals in Finland, four import terminals in Norway and four import terminals in Sweden.

Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas’ revenue rose by 18.9% year-on-year to Euro67.3m in 2018 from Euro56.6m in 2017. Its cement sales increased by 12% to 1.17Mt from 1.04Mt, according to the Baltic News Service. However, it made a continued to make a loss. The cement producer blamed this on mounting energy and staff costs.

Lithuania: The Bega cement terminal has won a ‘Product of Lithuania’ award from the government. Minister of Economy Virginijus Sinkevičius and the President of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists (LPK) Robert Dargis presented a medal to Laimonas Rimkus, the general manager of Bega, according to the Vakarų Ekspresas newspaper. The joint venture with local cement producer Akmenes Cementas was commissioned in early 2018. The terminal plans to increase its exports of cement to 0.35Mt/yr by 2020.

Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas, Lithuania’s only cement producer, has announced that it expects improved cement sales in 2018 compared to 2017 and hopes to halve its annual loss.

The company suffered a net loss of Euro5.5m in 107, 21.7% lower than a Euro7.0m loss in 2016. Turnover in 2017 grew by 11% to Euro56.7m. The company sold 1.04Mt of cement, 4% more than in 2016.
In 2017 Akmenes sold 58% of its produce to the local market. It exported 35% to other EU countries and 7% to Belarus. The company hopes to increase cement sales and to halve its losses.

Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas has managed to strike a deal with its creditors over the extension of a loan it took out in 2007. The cement producer has been in talks with various banks since mid-2016 to postpone the loan settlement deadline by three years, according to the Baltic Business Daily. However, Akmenes Cementas went to court and asked for an obligation for the banks to comply with the loan payment schedule signed in May 2017. Legal action was dropped in late September 2017 when the banks agreed to continue crediting the company under a deal. The loan currently stands at Euro53m.

Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas says that its new terminal at the port of Klaipėda will increase its exports to Scandinavia. At present the cement producer sends about 15% or 0.15Mt/yr of its output to the region, according to the Verslo Zinios newspaper. Once completed in the spring of 2018 the terminal will allow exports to be increased to 0.2Mt/yr.

Lithuania: Akmenės Cementas is fighting a legal battle over the repayment of a Euro40m loan it took out in 2007. The cement producer started negotiating in September 2016 with its creditors to have the repayment deferred by three years, according to the Baltic Business Daily. However the deal was blocked by the Baltijos Kredito Sprendimai, which inherited the portfolio of the bankrupt bank Snoras. On 15 June 2017 the Vilnius Regional Court temporarily banned Akmenės Cementas’ six creditors from taking loan repayments from its accounts with the exception of interest payments.

Akmenes Cementas built a new Euro110m production line in late 2014. The company used its own funds and the loan to finance the project.