Displaying items by tag: Government

Kenya: CDC Group has replaced its board members at ARM Cement Ketso Gordhan and Pepe Meijer with Sofia Bianchi and Rohit Anand. The UK government-backed investment company owns a 41% stake in the company. In addition ARM Cement has appointed Konstantin Makarov as its new executive director, replacing Rick Ashley who resigned in May 2018, and John Maonga as its company secretary. Maonga succeeds Ramesh Vora who resigned in April 2018.

Bianchi worked as head of Special Situations at Blue Crest Capital, a European hedge fund, from 2007 to 2016. She brings experience in investment roles from sectors including mining and telecommunications. Bianchi has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Anand holds over 11 years of experience investing in emerging markets across Asia and Africa. He has invested in sectors across infrastructure, telecoms, manufacturing, logistics and healthcare. He is currently responsible for the Industrial Businesses equity investments team covering manufacturing, real estate and logistics across South Asia and Africa. Prior to joining CDC, Anand worked with IDFC Private Equity in Mumbai where he was part of a team managing around US$1.3bn focused on growth capital investments in infrastructure in India. Anand started his career with Ernst & Young’s corporate finance team in India. He is a CFA charter holder, holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the University of Delhi.

Makarov holds over 15 years of experience in the financial markets in general and emerging markets in particular. He is responsible for launch of African practice and oversight of all sub-Saharan African and South East Asian transactions at StratLink Africa. Previously, he was directly responsible for market entry of US and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) based companies into sub-Saharan Africa and has been involved in activity focusing on emerging economies in Africa and South East Asia. He holds a Master of Science in Risk Management from Stern School of Business, New York University and Amsterdam Institute of Finance and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Maonga, a Certified Public Secretary who is a Member and Fellow of the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya, has over 30 years of experience in Company Secretarial and Registration Services.

US: US Cement is in the process of obtaining a draft air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to build a white cement plant in Brady, Texas. A public hearing on the application will be made in late June 2018. The subsidiary of Royal White Cement plans to build a single line 0.5Mt/yr white cement plant.

Afghanistan: The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has cancelled the Afghan Investment Company’s (AIC) contract to operate Ghori cement factory in Baghlan province. The AIC has been accused of not meeting a contractual obligation to upgrade the plant, according to Salam Watandar radio. Minister Nargis Nehan said that the company has due to invest US$152m in the unit but that it had only spent US$51m on the project. In addition it had acquired an outstanding loan of US$13m from the ministry. Mehmood Karzai, brother of the former president Hamid Karzai, is a shareholder in AIC.

Mozambique: Cement imported illegally from South Africa has been seized at the border town of Ressano Garcia. Customs impounded 36 railway wagons containing an estimated 29,000 bags of cement being imported by Kawena, according to the O Pais newspaper. Due to a lack of proper documentation the customs office is treating the case as fraud. The shipment is valued at US$0.12m and duties of US$74,500 should have been paid on it. Kawena says it has the documentation for the consignment, according to the Mozambique News Agency.

Vietnam: The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed that the government transfers the management of Quang Son cement plant to the Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) from the Vietnam Industrial Construction Corporation (Vinaincon) due to high losses and mounting loans. Both companies are run by the government, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. The loans have grown to 95% of the total investment of US$153m of the project, putting financial pressure on Vinaincon.

Under the proposal, Vicem will have to take care of all the loans taken by Vinaincon for Quang Son cement plant, formerly known as Thai Nguyen cement plant. The project started commercial operation in July 2011 with a production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr of cement.

Senegal: Trade minister Alioune Sarr says that the government will investigate a rise in the price of cement. He said that a committee has been set up to review the prices of essential commodoties including cement, according to PressAfrik. The decision follows a rise in the price of cement at the end of May 2018.

Ukraine: China’s Anhui Conch has discussed building a cement plant in Odessa with Anatoliy Urbansky, the chairman of the Odessa Regional Council. Delegates from the General Consulate of China in Odessa and the Ukrainian branch of China Metallurgical Construction Engineering Group attended the meeting as well, according to Interfax. Anhui Conch is also considering building a construction materials park and investing in tourism in the region.

Uganda: The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives has backed down from allowing bulk imports of cement into the country following price stabilisation. The market faced soaring prices in April 2018, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper. The ministry said that prices have returned to the level they were before the crisis. In April 2018 the government asked cement producers to resolve a local cement shortage. Local companies Hima Cement and Tororo Cement blamed the problem on reduced electricity supplies to their plants.

Rwanda: Vincent Munyeshyaka, the Minister of Trade and Industry, says that traders who are charging too much for cement will be fined. He told the New Times newspaper that about 30 traders have been fined for cement price speculation so far. Fines range up to about US$350. The country has faced a shortage of cement since February 2018 when local producer Cimerwa started upgrade work at its Bugarama plant.

Vietnam: The environment ministry has approved fly ash from the Formosa steel company for use in cement production. Sông Gianh Cement in Quảng Bình Province has been cleared for its use provided the materials meet current technical specifications and that the company has the responsibility to monitor the transport of ash, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper.

Sông Gianh Cement initially denied receiving fly ash from Formosa. However, the transport company carrying the by-product from Hà Tĩnh to Quảng Bình admitted to local media that it had been hired for the job. The Quảng Bình environment department then revealed that Sông Gianh had asked the government if it could buy fly ash from Formosa but that it had been denied due to poor public opinion regarding the steel producer.

Formosa received widespread public criticism when it was blamed for a chemical spill into the sea in 2016 that caused mass deaths of marine life and public outcry.