Displaying items by tag: Brazil

LafargeHolcim retained its ability to surprise this week with the news that it may be making preparations to leave Brazil. Local press in Minas Gerais revealed on 20 April 2021 that the company was about to try and sell its operations in the country. The building materials producer has not made a public statement yet on the matter, it may not until a deal is done and/or this could all be a great big misunderstanding. So treat the following with caution.

Firstly, LafargeHolcim deciding to sell in Brazil fits with the selective approach increasingly shown by the non-Chinese cement multinationals in recent years. It famously decided to sell up in South-East Asia from 2018 and it got as far as divesting assets in Indonesia and Malaysia. It also tried to sell in the Philippines but the local competition commission didn’t give permission for the proposed deal in the end. As Global Cement Weekly mentioned at the time this was a bold move and doing the same in Brazil seems similarly decisive now. It’s a big market to leave! CRH and HeidelbergCement have both talked openly as well about taking a value-first approach to their divestment strategies rather than trying to retain blanket coverage. However, just because a sale in Brazil by LafargeHolcim sounds right doesn’t mean it is right.

Secondly, data from the National Cement Industry Association (SNIC) shows that the Brazilian cement industry had a good year in 2020. Despite the relentlessly bad news from the coronavirus pandemic, the Brazilian government decided to keep the economy mostly open, allowing the cement industry to continue its recovery since 2018. The sector reported an 11% rise year-on-year in cement sales to 60Mt in 2020. So far in 2021 it has noted a 19% rise year-on-year to 15.3Mt in the first quarter of 2021. Yet, the association forecast slower growth in 2021 as a whole and has warned that the first quarter figures in 2021 don’t show a true picture due to a decline in sales per working day so far in 2021 despite an apparent growth in absolute figures. On the surface it’s a good time to sell cement assets in the country since the sector has been riding a recovery but the general outlook for the country is looking gloomy especially considering the ongoing scale of its coronavirus outbreak and the uncertain damage this may do to the economy as a whole.

Whether or not LafargeHolcim is actually selling up in Brazil or not it, follows the conclusion of the CRH Brazil acquisition by Buzzi Unicem’s Companhia Nacional de Cimento (CNC) joint-venture that was also announced this week after approval by the completion authority. The assets that CRH Brasil has now sold include three integrated cement plants and two grinding plants in the south-east of the country. The subsidiary sold approximately 2.8Mt of cement in 2020. If nothing else this suggests that there should be companies out there pursuing a different strategy to LafargeHolcim, CRH, HeidelbergCement and the rest who will be only too happy to build their portfolio if LafargeHolcim’s Brazilian business does go on sale.

CRH originally bought its plants in Brazil as part of a package deal when Lafarge and Holcim merged in 2015 and any potential sales by LafargeHolcim also link back to this. LafargeHolcim has spent much of the last six years working out what kind of company it wants to be. Certainly, since the current chief executive officer Jan Jenisch took charge it has had the air of a company with a mission. The Firestone Building Products acquisition earlier in 2021 is an example of this, propelling the group away from the triad of cement, concrete and aggregates as the carbon risks of heavy building materials heat up. There is something fitting perhaps that at the company’s next annual general meeting its shareholders will be asked whether they want to change the company’s name to Holcim at the group level. It’s a small thing, all market brands will remain as they are, but it may bookend the post-merger era as much as asset divestments in Indonesia and... potentially Brazil.

Brazil: LafargeHolcim Brasil, part of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim, is reportedly seeking to sell its assets. The Diario do Comercio newspaper has reported the rumour without detailing its sources. LafargeHolcim has not commented on the matter. However, local government officials in Borosso, Minas Gerais said they were waiting for an official confirmation from the cement producer before they could comment. The newspaper also speculated that the group may have already notified the Brazil government of its intent to sell. Under Brazilian law, any sale would require the approval of the Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE). The producer operates three cement plants and two grinding plants in the country.

Brazil: Companhia Nacional de Cimento (CNC), part of Italy-based Buzzi Unicem’s 50% subsidiary BCPAR, has acquired CRH Brasil following approval by the Brazilian antitrust authority (CADE). The deal was originally agreed for US$218m although changes in the financial positions of the acquired companies changed this. Buzzi Unicem supplied CNC with US$242m to support the deal.

CRH Brasil’s assets included three integrated cement plants and two grinding plants in the south-east of the country. The company sold approximately 2.8Mt of cement in 2020.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos’ consolidated net sales were US$6.41bn in 2020, up by 19% year-on-year from US$5.41bn in 2019. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also rose, by 35% to US$1.21bn from US$899m. The group attributed the growth to increased cement volumes sold in Brazil, Canada and the US. Total global cement sales increased by 8% to 32.4Mt. Net revenue grew in all regions, but the sharpest growth was reported in North America at 43% to US$945m.

Chief financial officer Osvaldo Ayres Filho said, “The past year has been extremely challenging due to the pandemic and its impacts across the planet. We have implemented a contingency plan to protect people's lives and preserve operations. This allowed us to respond with agility both in Brazil and in the other markets in which we have operations, ending the year with increased sales, cash generation growth and the lowest leverage in the past ten years.”

During the year, the group unified its joint-venture in Uruguay, with Cementos Molins, at a single site and merged its Canadian and US businesses under a new 83% owned subsidiary. It suspended its Pecém grinding plant expansion in Brazil due to the coronavirus pandemic and resumed it in September 2020. Completion of the project is scheduled for the first half of 2021. The producer also released its Sustainability Commitments for 2030 in November 2020.

Brazil: Cement sales grew by 19% yearn-year to 15.3Mt in the first quarter of 2021 from 12.8Mt in the same period in 2020. The National Cement Industry Association (SNIC) attributed the growth to poor weather and the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. Residential and home-improvement construction work in 2021 were also seen as contributing factors. However, association president Paulo Camillo Penna called for caution due to a decline in sales per working day so far in 2021 despite the apparent growth in absolute figures. The association also called for the local coronavirus vaccination campaign to be accelerated.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has announced plans to upgrade cement production at its 0.2Mt/yr integrated Corumbá cement plant in Mato Grosso do Sul. The Correio de Corumbá newspaper has reported the value of the planned work as US$2.85m. The investment is intended to improve the plant’s grinding line, modernise an electrical substation system, make changes to its mining operations and generally focus on optimising energy consumption. It also plans to train employees and work on community outreach activities.

Turkey: Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentos has leased three ready-mixed concrete plants from Polat Beton. Dunya News has reported that the facilities are all located in Ankara, Sincan, Kayaş and Gölbaşı respectively.

Brazil: Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) subsidiary CSN Cimentos began operating as an independent company on 1 February 2021. The Valor Economico newspaper has reported that the move is a preliminary to a likely future initial public offering (IPO) in the near-term although no date has been set yet. Under the same strategy, sister company CSN Mineracao is due to launch its IPO of US$1bn on 18 February 2021.

The 4.7Mt/yr-cement capacity producer operates two integrated plants and it is planning an 8.6Mt/yr expansion consisting of an upgrade to its Arcos plant and three new cement plants at Para, Parana and Sergipe respectively.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos is testing using dissolvable cement bags in a pilot project with paper and bag manufacturer Klabin. Following development, the new bag type will be tested in a pilot project in the south of the country based around the Rio Branco do Sul cement plant in Paraná state. The bags can be dissolved directly in a mixer when making concrete to speed up the process.

Brazil: Cimento Tupi has filed for so-called preventative bankruptcy to deal with its US$627m total debts, with the majority attributable to bondholders. The Valor Economico newspaper has reported that the cement producer has suffered due to a downturn in the sector since 2014 and currency depreciation.

The producer has an installed capacity of 2.5Mt/yr consisting of one integrated plant at Pedra do Sino in Minas Gerais and a grinding plant in Modi das Cruzes in São Paulo. In 2011 it began modernisation of its cement operations, for which it withdrew bank loans. Lenders launched legal action in April 2019 after the company defaulted on around US$30m of repayments to foreign investors.