Displaying items by tag: Deal

India: Adani Group has reportedly indicated an interest in acquiring the 1.2Mt/yr Shahabad cement plant in Karnataka from Jaiprakash Associates. The plant is the subject of an as yet incomplete deal between Jaiprakash Associates and Dalmia Bharat for the transfer of the former’s cement and power plants for US$671m.

The Business Standard newspaper has reported that Adani Group is in talks with ‘several companies’ over possible bolt-on acquisitions, with a view to doubling its cement capacity to 140Mt/yr by the end of 2028.

Australia/New Zealand: Belgium-based Etex has signed an agreement with building materials company BGC to acquire the latter’s gypsum and fibre cement businesses. The fibre cement business includes the Canning Vale fibre cement boards plant in Western Australia. BGC also operates nine warehouses across Australia and New Zealand. Etex says that the deal expands its activities in the ‘attractive’ local market, with significant growth opportunities. Finalisation is expected in early 2024.

Etex CEO Bernard Delvaux said “This deal is a strategic opportunity for Etex to complement our footprint in Australia and further increase the accessibility of our products and services for customers. This will both reinforce our gypsum wallboard offering and position us well in the growing fibre cement activities through a broad product range and good channel access.”

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies (HGCT) has signed a partnership deal with Point.P. Under the terms of the agreement, HGCT’s clinker-free cement products will be distributed to Point.P’s ready-mixed concrete (RMC) and batching plants. Point.P is aiming to reduce its CO₂ emissions linked to the use of cement it uses in ready-mix concrete, concrete blocks and precast elements, by 35% by 2030.

Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann, co-founders of HGCT, said "We're delighted with this partnership with a major player like Point P. This is a major step forward for the marketing of our clinker-free low-carbon cements.”

France-based Saint-Gobain Building Distribution France, a subsidiary of the Saint-Gobain, is a distributor of building materials. Its main brands include Point.P, Cedeo, Asturienne, PUM, SFIC, La Plateforme du Bâtiment, Dispano, Panofrance, Clim+ and CDL Elec. It has a network of over 2000 sales outlets throughout France.

India: UltraTech Cement has bought a 29.8 hectare parcel of land in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram District from The India Cements. The Times of India newspaper has reported the value of the sale as US$8.44m. The India Cements’ vice chair and managing director Narayanaswami Srinivasan said that the company is looking for ways to monetise its assets amid on-going liquidity issues.

The India Cements’ sales of cement and clinker fell by 4.3% quarter-on-quarter to 2.66Mt in the three months to 30 June 2023 from 2.78Mt in the three months to 31 April 2023. It noted high fossil fuel prices and local overcapacity in the South Indian cement sector.

Russia: A court has accepted a request by the Prosecutor General’s Office to drop a claim for the appropriation of Russian assets of Germany-based Heidelberg Materials by the Russian government. The assets include shares in cement producers HeidelbergCement Rus and Shale Cement Plant Cesla, as well as minerals producers Gurovo-Beton and Syryevaya Kompaniya.

A lawyer for the prosecutor’s office said “The state's interests can be protected by other lawful means.”

Heidelberg Materials suspended new investments in its Russian business on 10 March 2022. The Prosecutor General’s Office subsequently requested its expropriation, following which a court froze the assets in August 2023. Interfax News has reported that representatives of Heidelberg Materials’ Russian business then made an undertaking to the Russian government, according to which they would maintain their prices, production volumes and number of employees.

India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) faces a potential stumbling block to its planned acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates’ cement business for US$683m due to an on-going shareholder dispute at subsidiary Jaypee Bhilai Cement. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that a court has frozen Jaiprakash Associates’ 74% shareholding in the company, and ordered it not to create new third party rights. State-owned Steel Authority of India Limited holds the remaining 26% stake in the cement producer, which operates the 2.2Mt/yr Bhilai Jaypee grinding plant in Durg, Chhattisgarh.

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) and Jaiprakash Associates concluded multiple separate agreements for the transfer of ownership of Jaiprakash Associates’ cement subsidiaries on 26 April 2023. Besides Jaypee Bhilai Cement, these include cement plant and limestone mine operator JP Super and grinding plant operator Jaiprakash Power Ventures.

Saudi Arabia: Meyar Company has bought the Malham cement products plant in Riyadh for US$880,000. Local press has reported that the company will use the facility to target the cement products market in the city of Riyadh. A ready-mix concrete batching plant is also located at the site.

Saudi Arabia: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies (HGCT) has signed a deal with Shurfah Group to build several Hoffman plants under a 22-year exclusive licensing agreement. A first ‘clinker-free’ cement plant will be built in 2024. It will be a copy of HGCT’s H2 plant in France, which uses a combination of activated clay, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and gypsum to manufacture its products.

The engineering and production process will be carried out by Germany-based IBAU Hamburg. HGCT signed an exclusive partnership agreement with IBAU Hamburg in June 2022 to support the construction of Hoffmann units worldwide. In return for the industrial and technological transfer and this exclusivity, Hoffmann Green will receive an entry fee and fixed and variable annual royalties from Shurfah Group based on sales generated by the marketing of Hoffmann cements in Saudi Arabia.

Julien Blanchard and David Hoffman, the co-founders of HGCT, said "Just few weeks after signing a pre-agreement, we have given concrete expression to our commitment by signing this licensing contract with Shurfah, a major player in the Saudi Arabian construction industry. After Switzerland and the UK, we are continuing our international deployment with the aim of supporting, through this new contract, the kingdom's ambitious ‘Vision 2030’ project and participating in the decarbonisation of their construction industry through the construction of several of our units on their territory and the marketing of our 0% cement clinker."

Shurfah Group is a real estate investment conglomerate with interests in other sectors including petrochemicals, food and beverages.

India: Ambuja Cements’ open offer to acquire an additional 26% stake in Sanghi Industries will run from 29 September 2023 to 13 October 2023. Press Trust of India News has reported the value of shares under the offer as up to US$767m. Ambuja Cements concluded a deal to acquire a 57% stake in Sanghi Industries, for the smaller sum of US$603m, on 3 August 2023.

Spain: Cemex España will install a carbon capture system at its Alicante cement plant in Valencia, as part of its efforts to make the unit a 'benchmark pioneer low-CO₂' cement plant. The producer holds a contract with ET Fuels for the supply of 45,000t/yr of CO₂ captured at the facility for methanol production.

Chief executive officer Fernando González said “Our goal of reaching net-zero CO₂ emissions is achievable and will be driven by collaboration and innovation. Our decarbonisation roadmap includes reducing emissions to the lowest possible level through proven levers such as clinker substitution and alternative fuels. New levers, such as rapidly developing CCUS initiatives, must effectively tackle the remaining CO₂ emissions to hit our ambitious 2050 objectives.”