
Displaying items by tag: GCW323
Summit Materials makes US$3.8bn counter bid for Ash Grove Cement
06 October 2017US: Summit Materials has offered US$3.8bn to buy Ash Grove Cement, according to Reuters. The board of Ash Grove Cement has described the proposal as ‘superior’ to the US$3.5bn bid made by Ireland’s CRH in September 2017. It has extended its so-called ‘shop window’ consideration period with CRH to 20 October 2017.
Pioneer Cement signs deal to buy Galadari Cement
06 October 2017Pakistan: Pioneer Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy Galadari Cement (Gulf). Galadari Cement has been building its plant at Hub Choki in Balochistan since 1998, according to the News International newspaper. The unit is 50% complete. No amount for the sale has been disclosed but it is estimated to be around US$66m.
Duqm economic zone signs usufruct agreement with Al Wusta Cement
06 October 2017Oman: The Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm (SEZAD) has signed a usufruct agreement with the Al Wusta Cement Company to establish a cement plant in Duqm. As per the terms of the deal the Al Wusta Cement has received a 500,000m2 plot in the zone for a duration of 50 years, according to the Oman News Agency. The new cement producer is a joint venture between Oman Cement and Raysut Cement.
Al Wusta Cement plans to start building the plant in 2018 with production scheduled for 2020. The unit will start with a production capacity of 5000t/day before raising this to 10,000t/day, subject to market demand.
LafargeHolcim vehicles targeted in Paris security incident
06 October 2017France: Petrol containers and burnt matches have been found under trucks at a LafargeHolcim site in Paris. Workers found the items underneath the vehicles on the morning of 5 October 2017, according to Agence France Presse. However, the incident is not thought to be terror related. Security camera footage shows the perpetrators trying to ignite the fuel on the night before. Investigators say that the ‘crude device’ had no chance of detonating. Lafarge France operates a number of concrete and aggregate units in the city.
The incident follows on-going anti-terrorism investigations in the city following the discovery of several gas canisters and a cell phone detonator earlier in October 2017. LafargeHolcim is also under investigation by the French judiciary for its conduct running a cement plant in Syria during the civil war.
Siam Cement Group signs US coal import deal
05 October 2017Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) has signed a deal to import 155,000t of coal from the US for its cement plants in Thailand and elsewhere in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kalin Sarasin, a senior SCG executive and chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, made the announcement following an official visit to the US by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, according to the Nation newspaper.
SCG will buy 100,000t of US coal in the first contract and a second contract will be for 55,000t to test the quality. Subsequently, the cement producer may buy more coal. At present, SCG imports around 6Mt/yr coal from Indonesia and Australia. The US coal will be used to substitute some of the Indonesian supply, which has been imported due to a higher demand for coal for power stations.
Australia: The Federal Court has upheld an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and raised a fine against Cement Australia and its subsidiaries for anti-competitive agreements to US$16.1m. Originally the cement producer was fined US$13.4m but the ACCC argued it was too low. A cross appeal by Cement Australia was dismissed.
“The penalties imposed in competition cases are hugely important in deterring anti-competitive conduct, which is why we appealed the original penalties given to Cement Australia,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims.
The ACCC first brought the proceedings in 2008 against Cement Australia, Cement Australia Holdings, Cement Australia Queensland (formerly Queensland Cement Ltd), Pozzolanic Enterprises and Pozzolanic Industries. They were related to contracts that were entered into by Cement Australia companies between 2002 and 2006 with four power stations in South East Queensland, to acquire fly ash. The court found contraventions of the Competition and Consumer Act in 2014 and a fine was issued in 2016.
PPC hires bank to review Fairfax offer
05 October 2017South Africa: PPC has hired Investec bank to review an offer by Fairfax Financial Holdings to buy a stake in it. The process will also look at ‘credible’ offers made by other investors including Nigeria’s Dangote Cement. No duration for the review has been specified but the cement producer said it would take ‘some time.’ The Takeover Regulation Panel has granted Fairfax an extension until November 2017 to distribute its offer to shareholders, PPC said, allowing Investec more time to complete its report into the proposal.
Pakistan cement sales rise in first quarter but exports down
05 October 2017Pakistan: Cement sales rose by 15% year-on-year to 10.3Mt in the first quarter of the local financial year that ended in September 2017 from 9Mt in the same period in 2016. However, the export part of this figure fell by 16.7% to 1.29Mt, according to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). Exports fell faster in the south of the country, where the country’s ports are based, with a significant drop in seaborne trade.
“Robust construction activities within the country are supporting the cement sector, but it is still sitting on some idle capacity that could be exported through government facilitations like sharing the transport cost,” said the APCMA to the Nation newspaper. It added that the government should cut duties on cement to encourage the residential sector.
Loma Negra signs renewable energy deal with Genneia
05 October 2017Argentina: Loma Negra has signed a deal to buy renewable energy from local power company Genneia for a 20-year period starting in January 2018. The agreement will include energy generated by the Parque Eólico Rawson wind farm that is scheduled to complete a 24MW expansion in December 2017.