Displaying items by tag: Dalmia Bharat
Dalmia Bharat executes definitive agreements with Jaiprakash Associates to buy cement assets
27 April 2023India: Dalmia Bharat says its has executed definitive agreements with Jaiprakash Associates to buy cement, clinker and power plants. The latest part of the acquisition process has cleared Dalmia Bharat to buy the JP Super Cement plant in Uttar Pradesh for US$183m, subject to various clearances and approvals. In addition, Dalmia Bharat has also agreed to buy a 74% share of Bhilai Jaypee Cement for an enterprise value of US$81m and is in the process of signing a seven-year lease agreement with Jaiprakash Power Ventures for its 2Mt/yr Nigrie Cement grinding plant in Madhya Pradesh. Dalmia Bharat will have the option to purchase the Nigrie unit anytime within the lease period for an enterprise value of around US$30m.
Dalmia Bharat agreed to buy selected assets from Jaiprakash Associates for US$684m in December 2022. Cement and grinding plants under the deal are situated in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the deal in February 2023.
Dalmia Bharat says commodity inflation peak ending as earnings fall in 2023 financial year
27 April 2023India: Mahendra Singhi, the head of Dalmia Cement (Bharat), says that the company has past the peak of commodity price inflation. Its income from operations grew by 10% year-on-year to US$1.66bn in the 2023 financial year from US$1.38bn in the 2022 financial year. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 5% to US$283m from US$297m. Its sales volumes of cement increased by 16% to 26Mt from 22Mt.
Mahendra Singhi, the managing director and chief executive officer of Dalmia Cement (Bharat), said “Our persistent efforts, on enhancing sustainability of our operations and rationalisation of our operating costs, have enabled us to mitigate the adverse impact of inflation and deliver stable earnings performance.” He added “With robust demand outlook, steady cement prices and the peak of commodity price inflation behind us, we are expecting profitability to gradually improve from here on.”
Sustainability targets that the group promoted in its fourth quarter results statement included reaching a carbon footprint of 463kgCO2/t of cement. Its renewable energy capacity increased to 166MW in the 2023 financial year from 100MW.
India: JSW Cement was among 20 companies from various industries in attendance at a roundtable discussion on the subject of leveraging clean energy to journey towards net zero on 13 April 2023. The discussion covered a broad range of ways to end the use of fossil fuels, including energy storage and the use of electric vehicles. Press Trust of India News has reported that advanced batteries developer Log9 Materials hosted the event in partnership with networking platform Blue Circle – not to be confused with the former cement producer of the same name. Executive director and chief risk officer Arvind Bodhankar represented Dalmia Bharat, while chief sustainability and innovation officer Manoj Rustagi represented JSW Cement.
India: Dalmia Bharat plans to expand its footprint in Central, Northern and Western India through capital expenditure investments, in order to reach a pan-India cement capacity of 54Mt/yr by the end of the 2024 financial year on 31 March 2024. This corresponds to year-on-year growth of 38% from 39Mt/yr at the start of April 2023. The Hindu BusinessLine newspaper has reported that the expansion aims to reduce Dalmia Bharat’s reliance on its native South, East and North East regions. The cement producer will fund the growth through allocations of its capital to its core business. At the same time, it plans to divest non-core assets, including its 15% stake in trading platform India Energy Exchange.
Dalmia Bharat expects growth in Indian cement demand to outstrip national GDP growth in the 2024 financial year. It has a medium-term expansion plan to grow its cement capacity to 92% to 75Mt/yr by the end of the 2027 financial year.
India: Dalmia Cement has awarded a contract for the supply of fly ash and other industrial waste to Vedanta Aluminium. Under the deal, Vedanta Aluminium will supply fly ash for use at Dalmia Cement’s cement plants across Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya and Assam. It will deliver spent pot linings to the producer’s Rajgangpur cement plant in Odisha. The fly ash contract will remain in effect until 2028 and the pot lining contract until 2026.
Vedanta chief executive officer Sunil Gupta said “Strategic collaborations such as this will provide multiple benefits in terms of enhanced quality, sustainability and cost benefits to cement manufacturing, while helping us in gainful waste management. Our waste-to-wealth initiatives are designed to develop thriving value-chains for converting our by-products into resources for complementary industries.”
CII role for Dalmia Cement head
15 March 2023India: Hakkimuddin Ali, business head for Maharashtra at Dalmia Cement (Bharat), has been elected as vice chair of the Maharashtra branch of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The CII serves as the connecting link between the industry and the government of India.
Ali said that he will use his new position to increase business and industry opportunities in Nagpur, Aurangabad and other cities in Vidarbha, identify problems faced by the industry and suggest necessary remedies to the state government.
Dalmia Cement (Bharat), Rama Cement Industries and Shree Cement win coal mine auctions
28 February 2023India: Three cement producers placed winning bids for coal mining leases at auctions on 27 February 2023. Press Trust of India News has reported that Dalmia Cement (Bharat) and Rama Cement Industries won bidding for coal mining leases in Madhya Pradesh, while Shree Cement won a lease for mines in Chhattisgarh.
Arindam Acharya appointed as technical head at Star Cement
22 February 2023India: Star Cement has appointed Arindam Acharya as its technical head based at Guwahati in Assam. He was worked in the cement sector for over 15 years, mostly recently holding the post of Assistant General Manager at Dalmia Cement (Bharat). Prior to this he has worked for The Ramco Cements, Ambuja Cements and UltraTech Cement. Achary holds qualification from Shivaji University and the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata.
Dalmia Cement (Bharat) deploys gas-fuelled truck fleet
20 February 2023India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has successfully launched its new fleet of 35 liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fuelled trucks from its Murli cement plant in Maharashtra. The trucks are of two types, covering ranges of 50 - 600km, and will transport bagged cement and bulk raw materials. They have 28% lower CO2 emissions than conventional diesel-powered trucks, and are thus able to eliminate 840t/yr of CO2 emissions, while also reducing emissions of nitrous oxides (NOx) by 59% and particulates by 91%, and eliminating emissions of sulphur oxides (SOx).
Dalmia Cement (Bharat) says that its next move will be to launch a second fleet of 25 trucks from its Ariyalapur cement plant in Tamil Nadu. By April 2024, it plans to convert 10% of its 3000 truck-strong fleet to LNG fuel.
A spokesperson for the company said “Dalmia Cement has been following the business philosophy of Clean & Green is Profitable and Sustainable. Our overall CO2 emissions have come down from 670kg/t to 467kg/t – one of the lowest globally – and we are focusing on realising our carbon negative goal by 2040. We are delighted to partner with GreenLine Logistics for further reduction of our Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions.”
CCI approves Dalmia’s acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates’ cement and power assets
16 February 2023India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved a US$684m deal related to Dalmia Cement’s acquisition of cement, clinker and power plants of Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL).
Dalmia Cement says that the acquisition - which includes 9.4Mt/yr of cement capacity, 6.7Mt/yr of clinker capacity and 280MW of power generation capacity - will allow it to expand its footprint into the central region and transform into a pan-Indian company. More than half of JAL’s cement capacity is in central India. Dalmia Cement anticipates reaching a cement production capacity of 75Mt/yr by the 2027 fiscal year and, due to other expansion plans, 110 - 130Mt/yr by the 2031 fiscal year.
This latest transaction, once approved by the relevant regulators, will see the complete exit of JAL from the cement business.