Displaying items by tag: HeidelbergCement
US: Lehigh Cement Company, part of Heidelbergcement Group, has ordered a semi-mobile limestone crushing plant from Hazemag for its Union Bridge cement plant.
The plant will process up to 2500t/hour of limestone with a feed size of up to 2000mm. The material is discharged by means of a Hazemag apron feeder HAF 25160 from a 400t feed hopper. The fines in the feed material are screened at 100mm on a Hazemag roller screen HRS 2638.
The HAZEMAG primary impact crusher HPI 2230 crushes the material down to D99 < 125mm. The impact crusher is fitted with hydraulically adjustable impact aprons and grinding path that both retract in a controlled manner under excessive load. The system of the retractable grinding path is patented. The impact crusher HPI 2230 is also fitted with the automatic gap width control HAZtronic.
HeidelbergCement reduces refinancing needs by further Euro500m
23 October 2015Germany: HeidelbergCement has taken another step to optimise the financing of the Italcementi acquisition. The volume of the bridge financing could be reduced by a further Euro500m from Euro3.8bn to Euro3.3bn. The refinancing needs in the bond market declined by Euro500m to around Euro2.5bn, correspondingly.
Decisive for the reduction of the financing volume was that some of Italcementi's creditor banks have agreed to waive their change of control clauses. As a consequence, HeidelbergCement will have access to additional credit lines totalling Euro500m on a long-term basis also after the takeover. Therefore, refinancing of these credit lines after the acquisition is no longer necessary and the volume of the bridge financing could be reduced accordingly. As already communicated in the announcement of the Italcementi acquisition, the bridge financing should be refinanced by free cash flow, the sale of production sites and the issuance of bonds. The reduction in the volume of bridge financing thus also reduces the need for refinancing in the bond market by the same amount.
HeidelbergCement appoints three new management board members
21 October 2015Germany: HeidelbergCement has appointed three new Managers to its board with effect from 1 February 2016.
A new executive position will be created for the African / Eastern Mediterranean region. Hakan Gurdal from Turkish Sabancı Holding, previously responsible for the Turkish company's jointly-operated business with HeidelbergCement, will step into this new role. Jon Morrish will head HeidelbergCement's North American business. The third newcomer is Kevin Gluskie, who will lead the HeidelbergCement's business operations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Hanson Building Products changes name to Forterra
06 October 2015US/UK: Hanson Building Products has changed its name to Forterra following its recent divestment by HeidelbergCement. The rebranding brings with it a new logo to the established business, which has a trading history spanning back several decades, while its wide selection of products and services will be unchanged.
The company, which operates in North America and the UK, makes a diverse range of concrete and clay building products. Structherm, the subsidiary that specialises in external wall insulation, is unaffected by the rebranding. Forterra employs approximately 5000 people, 1600 of whom work in the UK in 18 manufacturing facilities and its new Northampton based head office.
"The Hanson name and logo may have been replaced by Forterra, but this is a change of branding only," said Stephen Harrison, UK managing director of Forterra. "We remain committed to the excellence and integrity recognised by our customers and the construction industry in general and we want to use this rebranding to reinforce our values. We will continue to be a leading building products manufacturer in the UK and a key player within the construction industry. As Forterra, our business enters an exciting new era."
The new name is effective immediately and will be implemented across the company's products, services and communications over the coming months. Company emails and web addresses will also change to reflect the Forterra name. The changes only apply to Hanson Building Products, while Hanson Cement, Hanson Quarry Products and Hanson Contracting will all continue to be part of Hanson UK, which remains within the HeidelbergCement Group. There will be no ongoing connection between Hanson UK and Forterra.
FLSmidth enters service contract with Norwegian plant
01 October 2015Norway: FLSmidth has agreed with HeidelbergCement on a one year service agreement contract to support its Norcem cement plant in Kjøpsvik, Norway. The plant is the most northerly in the world. An FLSmidth team will monitor the plant and diagnose and advise the Kjøpsvik-based operators in real-time. This will enable improvement in performance, increased availability and reduced operating costs.
"Optimising equipment performance is difficult without access to a wide range of specialists," said Skage Hem, FLSmidth's vice president for Global Research and Development. "It is not easy for customers with plants in remote corners of the world to recruit specialists. We have an experienced global specialist team ready to support the customers at all
hours of the day anywhere in the world."
Service is increasingly important for FLSmidth and is a growing business. In the last quarter alone service business across FLSmidth grew by 24% compared with the same quarter of 2014. Although global growth has slowed down, the equipment of many of its existing customers still needs to be maintained and optimised in order to increase plant productivity. With more than 90% of the lifecycle cost of cement plants being operating expenditure cost, service agreements are an area of continued growth potential for FLSmidth.
Read Global Cement's visit report from the Kjøpsvik plant here.
Daniel Fritz resigns from HeidelbergCement India
30 September 2015India: HeidelbergCement India has reported that Daniel R Fritz has tendered his resignation from the position of Director of the company with effect from close of business on 29 September 2015.
India’s competition authority approves Italcementi purchase
25 September 2015India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved German firm HeidelbergCement's proposed acquisition of Italcementi SpA in India. The CCI first announced this information in a tweet that said that it had approved of the 'acquisition of Italcementi SPA by Heidelberg Cement AG.'
Germany/Italy: Italcementi's CEO Carlo Pesenti said that the acquisition of Italcementi by HeidelbergCement is expected to be completed in the first half of 2016, according to Dow Jones. September 2015 will be dedicated to speaking to European and national regulators to receive approval for the deal. Pesenti said that he will join the supervisory board of HeidelbergCement and plans to keep an active role in the company.
HeidelbergCement disposes of German lime businesses
03 September 2015Germany: HeidelbergCement has completed the disposal of its lime business in Germany to the Belgian Lhoist Group. Both companies agreed not to disclose any details about the transaction.
The HeidelbergCement assets comprised two lime plants in Germany, the Walhalla Kalkwerk in Regensburg, Bavaria and Kalkwerk Istein in Istein, Baden-Württemberg. Both lime plants were modernised in recent years with modern kiln technology. They generated a turnover of about Euro45m in 2014 and employed approximately 180 people.
Mergers and acquisitions aplenty… but what about Cemex?
19 August 2015In early 2014 the top of the global cement producer charts looked very different to how it does today. The big four multinationals, Lafarge, Holcim, HeidelbergCement and Cemex, were clearly out in front and ahead of the rest of the global top 10. While there was discrepancy in their sizes, the largest, Lafarge (224Mt/yr) had just over twice the cement capacity of fourth-placed Cemex (95Mt/yr), with Holcim (218Mt/yr) and HeidelbergCement (122Mt/yr) between these extremes.1 With an impressive 659Mt/yr of capacity between them, these four accounted for just shy of half of global cement capacity outside of China.
However, as those with even a passing interest in the cement sector will know, this is no longer the case. The merger between Lafarge and Holcim and the subsequent acquisition of Italcementi by HeidelbergCement has stretched out the range of the top producers significantly. Today LafargeHolcim has around 340Mt/yr of installed capacity and HeidelbergCement 200Mt/yr. Meanwhile Cemex is still 'stuck in the 90s,' with a capacity of around 92Mt/yr following the sale of its Croatian cement assets last week. The Mexican 'giant' is now almost a quarter of the size of LafargeHolcim. What does this mean for the world's number three (excluding Chinese producers) and what might the future hold?
Well... the old adage goes that you have to move forward to stand still. However, Cemex has not moved forward over the past two years, meaning that is hasn't kept up the pace with its immediate rivals. It hasn't been able to, hemmed in by the debt that it took on from its poorly-timed acquisition of Rinker in 2007. Indeed, Cemex is looking to contract further, with aims to shed a further Euro600 - 1100m of non-core assets in 2015.2 Against improved positions at LafargeHolcim and HeidelbergCement, Cemex increasingly looks like an 'Americas specialist' rather than a full-blown multinational. A stake in Cemex LatAm Holdings is up for sale, but the sale of more cement plants may also be on the way. This is all being done to improve Cemex's investment grade rating from B-plus, four grades below investment grade.
If Cemex does have to shed further physical assets on the ground, it is very unlikely that it would chose to do so in the Americas, where it is a very major player. It is number one in Mexico, third in the US and well-postitioned in numerous growth markets in Central America. If push comes to shove, it is far more likely that it would sell assets that are further from home. These are in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.
Cemex has 43% of its production capacity outside the Americas. Certain assets, such as those in Thailand, Bangladesh and the Philippines, may be appealing to CRH, which is already set to acquire LafargeHolcim divestments there and is known to be considering other purchases in the region.3 Cemex also owns several cement plants in better-performing EU economies like Germany and the UK. In Germany, the company has already completed a small downsizing exercise by selling its Kollenbach plant to Holcim (LafargeHolcim). Meanwhile, Cemex UK is a major player in the UK, where the Competition Commission has recently been very keen to increase the number of producers. Elsewhere, Cemex's share in Assuit Cement in Egypt could provide much needed revenue, as could its small stake in the Emirati markets.
Thinking more radically, and in keeping with the current trend of mega-mergers and large-scale acquisitions, could Cemex find itself the target of the next global cement mega-merger / acquisition? Certainly, its strength in Central and South America completely complements HeidelbergCement's lack of coverage here, making a future 'HeidelbergCemex' a potential winner.
The other option, if/when Cemex regains its investment rating, would be for Cemex to acquire or merge with a company further down the list of global cement produers. Africa is an obvious target, with rapid growth and a lack of Cemex assets at present. A foreigner buying up Dangote is probably out of the question, but PPC would be an interesting target, as would increasingly isolated Brazilian producers that could help shore up Cemex's South American position.
If the past 18 months in the global cement industry have shown anything, it is that we should expect the unexpected. It will be very interesting to see how all players, both large and small, will react to the recent goings on in the rest of 2015 and beyond.
1. 1. Saunders A.; 'Top 75 Cement Producers,' in Global Cement Magazine – December 2013. Epsom, UK, December 2013.
1. 2. Reuters website, 'Mexico's Cemex could sell part of business to pay down debt: CEO,' 10 February 2015. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/11/us-mexico-cemex-idUSKBN0LF05320150211.
1. 3. Global Cement website, 'CRH investment spend set to pass Euro7bn with South Korea cement deal,' 12 June 2015, http://www.globalcement.com/news/item/3721-crh-investment-spend-set-to-pass-euro7bn-with-south-korea-cement-deal.