Displaying items by tag: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Egypt: The Arabian Cement Company is to collaborate with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Qatar National Bank (QNB) to build a solar power plant at its Suez cement plant. The banks are providing funding of over US$5m to support the project, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. The solar plant will be built in collaboration with Solarize Egypt. It is scheduled to start operation in the second quarter of 2019.

Azerbaijan: LafargeHolcim has increased its stake in Holcim Azerbaijan to 76% from 66%. The move followed the decision by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to sell its 10% equity stake in the cement producer, according to ABZ News. Remaining shares in company are held by individual shareholders.

Azerbaijan: The Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has declined to increase its participation share in the capital of Holcim Azerbaijan to 20%. No reason for the refusal has been disclosed. The bank currently holds a 10% share in the cement producer, according to Trend News Agency. The EBRD has been considering increasing its share in the cement producer since mid-2016. It said that it would continue its support in the development of Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector. Holcim Azerbaijan’s main shareholder is LafargeHolcim. It owns a 66% of the company. The bank expects government infrastructure projects to pick up the sector in the medium to long term.

Slovenia: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has awarded Salonit Anhovo (Salonit) a Euro15m loan to be used for energy and resource efficiency improvements and to restructure the company’s balance sheet. The building materials producer has a substitution rate of 64% for alternative fuels at its Anhovo cement plant. The EBRD loan will be invested to increase this ratio further to improve the company’s profitability and reduce CO₂ emissions. A precondition for increasing the ratio of alternative fuels is the installation of state-of-the-art equipment. The investment will also have a beneficial effect on operational costs, which are expected to decline thanks to the adjusted fuel ratios.

Egypt: The Egyptian cement industry could reduce its CO₂ emissions by 2030 by following new recommendations in a report from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). These recommendations have been published in the EBRD’s report, ‘Policy roadmap for a Low-Carbon Egyptian Cement Industry,’ which highlights the need for decisive and collaborative action by the industry’s stakeholders in order to achieve a reduction in CO₂ emissions.

“Improving environmental standards in the cement industry and offering commercial incentives is realistic and vital for the profitability of the sector,” said Philip ter Woort, the EBRD Director for Egypt.

The roadmap outlines recommendations for policy actions from the Egyptian government that may provide effective incentives for the cement industry to improve its energy efficiency and to reduce CO₂ emissions. The report points out that the potential for improvement is high despite that 50% of the Egyptian cement industry’s production capacity was built after 2000, and is using up-to-date equipment and clinker kilns that use best available technology (BAT).

Until 2014, the Egyptian cement industry, one of the most energy intensive industries in the country, had primarily used state-subsidised natural gas and heavy fuel oil to fire its cement kilns. However, following a gradual phasing out of the energy subsidies, Egyptian cement companies have switched to using high CO₂ intensive fuels such as coal and petcoke.

The roadmap suggests that in order to reduce CO₂ emissions, the industry should reduce the clinker content in cement, increase the use of alternative fuels, improve electrical energy efficiency and use more renewable sources of energy. Under one of the more ambitious scenarios, 2.2Mt/yr of coal will no longer have to be imported by 2030, saving about US$200m. Furthermore this would lead to a reduction in CO₂ emissions to about 2% below the historic level prior to the fuel switch. In addition the cement industry could increase its usage of alternative fuels substitution.

The report was initiated by the EBRD, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), the Chamber of Building Materials Industries/Cement Industry Association (CBMI) and the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Azerbaijan: The board of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development's (EBRD) has decided to raise its stake in Holcim Azerbaijan to 20%. The move is intended to support the company’s energy efficiency through the use of alternative fuels.

“The bank will continue to support a major company in Azerbaijan, demonstrating continued support for the country's non-oil sector,” said the bank in a statement. “In addition, the company is committed to sustainability standards and will pursue the use of alternative fuels in its operations.”

LafargeHolcim acquired a controlling stake in Holcim Azerbaijan, formerly Garadagh OJSC, during a privatization process in 1999. The EBRD currently owns a 10% share in the cement producer.

Azerbaijan: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to increase its stake in Holcim Azerbaijan to 20% from 10%.

"The EBRD is considering an additional investment in Holcim OJSC to increase the bank's stake in the company, with a view to extend its participation in the business," the EBRD said in a statement. The bank intends to support the company’s energy efficiency through the use of alternative fuels. On 20 July 2016 the EBRD board of directors will start a preliminary review of the issue of increasing the stake in Holcim Azerbaijan.

Holcim Azerbaijan produces 35 - 40% of Azerbaijan's cement and clinker. The company's main shareholders are LafargeHolcim (66%), EBRD (10%) and Holcim Auslandbeteiligungs GmbH (10%).

Mongolia: The Senj Sant cement plant was opened on 13 August 2015 in Urgun Soum, Dornogovi, some 450km from the capital Ulaanbaatar, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The plant will be the first greenfield cement plant in Mongolia to use the dry process, which is especially significant in the Gobi region, where water is scarce. The plant will also use a waste heat recovery power plant, which will help save energy and water.

The project includes a gender action plan, which means there will be more opportunities for women. Most of the directors of Senj Sant are women. The plant will be overseen by Munkhnasan Narmandakh, the female CEO of its parent holding company, Monpolymet Group, one of Mongolia's leading mining operations. The holding company has an all-female board of directors.

The EBRD provided a financing package of US$85m, which consisted of a US$20m equity investment and a US$65m loan to Senj Sant. The Development Bank of Mongolia lent US$65m. The remaining US$80m of the total project cost of US$230m was funded by the Monpolymet Group.

"This project will be a major step towards establishing domestic cement supply and replacing imports. It is also important for the country's economic diversification," said the EBRD's senior banker in charge of the project, Azjargal Ulziitogtokh. "The EBRD is proud to highlight that the project meets EU requirements and will be using best available technology. Personally, as a Mongolian female professional, I am also very pleased to say that the company has a gender action plan to ensure equal opportunities, which goes beyond industry standards, not only in Mongolia but in the whole region where the EBRD works."

To date, the EBRD has committed over US$1bn to Mongolia's economy. All of the Bank's projects so far have supported private sector companies.

Mongolia: Senj Sant is in the midst of constructing a new dry-process cement plant, which will be the first of its kind in Mongolia. The plant is being built to meet rising demand generated by a rapidly-growing economy. The new Senj Sant plant is strategically located in southern Mongolia about 450km from the capital city, Ulaanbaatar.

A deal with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to lend Senj Sant US$65m, following an earlier US$20m equity investment for a stake in Senj Sant that was agreed in May 2013, was signed recently by the EBRD's first vice president Phil Benett.

"This project represents yet another step towards the diversification of Mongolia's economy," said Bennett. Senj Sant, which is owned by Mongolia's Monpolymet Group, is using EBRD finance to continue funding the construction, commissioning and operation of the plant, which is expected to have a total capacity of about 3000t/day of cement with the start of production in 2015.

"The EBRD's long term finance, including equity, is not only helping us to build the first greenfield cement plant in Mongolia using the environmentally-friendly dry-process, but also supporting the company in raising business standards to international levels," said the CEO of Monpolymet Group, Munkhnasan Narmandakh. Mongolia's high levels of mining and infrastructure investment make investment in cement capacity key for future development.

Mongolia: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a US$65m loan to Senj Sant to build a cement plant as part of a financing package dating from May 2013, which included a US$20m equity investment. Construction at the 1Mt/yr plant situated in southern Mongolia began in April 2013

"The EBRD's long-term finance, including equity, not only helps us build the first cement plant in Mongolia using the environmentally-friendly dry process, but also supports the company in raising business standards to international levels," said

CEO of Monpolymet Group, Munkhnasan Narmandakh. Senj Sant is a subsidiary of Monpolymet Group.