Displaying items by tag: Holcim

UAE: Holcim UAE has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fakhruddin Properties to jointly advance sustainable construction across the region. The agreement is the first MoU that Holcim has signed with a locally-headquartered building developer. Fakhruddin Properties intends to use sustainable building products to “…reduce both embodied and operational carbon, promote circular economy principles and scale practical sustainability solutions with full transparency.”

Fakhruddin Properties says it pioneered the country’s first in-building waste management system, diverting 90% of waste from landfills and is committed to delivering a ‘wellness-optimised lifestyle’ across its portfolio through the implementation of smart home and air purification technology and other energy-efficient initiatives.

We round off 2025 with the news that Holcim is preparing to buy a majority stake in Cementos Pacasmayo. This has implications for both the future of Holcim and the cement market in Peru. We explore this and more below.

This proposed acquisition starts to answer the question of what kind of company Holcim wants to be following the spin-off of Amrize, the North American business, in June 2025. The remainder of Holcim after the split consists of a large European segment and smaller divisions in Latin America and Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMEA). After the divestment of Lafarge Africa in Nigeria, the AMEA business now mainly covers North Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Bangladesh, China, New Zealand and the Philippines. In Latin America the group has subsidiaries in many countries, from Mexico south to Argentina. It also operates the Disensa construction materials retail chain. Holcim’s NextGen Growth 2030 strategy is targeted at sustainability and growth in AMEA and Latin America. The size of the business in Europe dictates the need for sustainability but the growth potential is elsewhere. Hence the attractiveness of deals like the one in Peru.

The acquisition of Cementos Pacasmayo follows a string of deals for Holcim in the country. Holcim purchased ready-mix concrete producer Mixercon and industrial minerals producer Comacsa for US$100m in mid-2024. Then in April 2025 it bought specialty buildings products manufacturer Compañía Minera Luren. The proposed Cementos Pacasmayo deal builds on all of this. Holcim has agreed to spend US$1.5bn to buy a 50.01% share. Completion of the transaction is expected in the first half of 2026 once regulatory approval is obtained. It will give Holcim control of Cementos Pacasmayo’s three integrated cement plants with a combined production capacity of 4.9Mt/yr, 28 ready-mix and precast concrete plants and 300 of the company’s DINO retail stores. Notably, Holcim appears to be paying around US$610/t for the new capacity. This is comparable to recent deals in North America.

The Holcim deal marks a change to the dominance of the cement market in Peru by local players. Previously, all the integrated clinker producers - UNACEM, Cementos Pacasmayo, Grupo Gloria and Cementos Inka - were owned by Peruvian companies. This started to change in 2024 when Holcim bought Comacsa and its white cement plant in Lima. Coincidentally, a US$17.5m fine imposed upon Grupo Gloria by National Institute for the Defence of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi) for anticompetitive behaviour was confirmed this week. The penalty was originally announced in 2023 in response to the alleged enforcement of exclusive supply contracts and restricted access to Cemento Yura plants. The subsidiary of Grupo Gloria continues to oppose the ruling.

Graph 1: Cement despatches in Peru, 2016 - 2015. Source: Asociación de Productores de Cemento (ASOCEM). Note: Figure estimated for 2025.

Data for November 2025 from Asociación de Productores de Cemento (ASOCEM) shows that despatches grew by 5.9% year-on-year from December 2024 to November 2025. Both imports and exports of cement and clinker are also up. Similarly, Cementos Pacasmayo has reported a good year so far in 2025. Its sales grew by 7% year-on-year to US$462m and its consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 4.6% to US$121m in the first nine months of 2025. This was attributed to higher sales for infrastructure-related projects and an increase in bagged cement demand.

The cement market in Peru has bounced back strongly following the Covid-19 epidemic. There was a dip in 2023 and 2024 but the market stayed at higher levels than the late 2010s despite this. Further growth has now returned and more is expected in the future. This may explain why Holcim has agreed to pay serious money to buy a cement company in Peru. As the business in Europe adapts to sustainability it is looking to expand elsewhere. Latin America is the obvious candidate to build on the existing business. Locally in Peru, this deal will change the status quo and it will be fascinating to observe how the market evolves in coming years.

Global Cement Weekly will return on Wednesday 7 January 2026

Peru: Holcim has announced plans to acquire a majority stake in Cementos Pacasmayo, expanding its footprint in the country and strengthening its position across Latin America. Holcim will acquire 50.01% of the company for US$550m, according to Reuters. Cementos Pacasmayo operates three cement plants with a total capacity of approximately 5Mt/yr, along with 28 ready-mix and precast concrete plants. The deal values the company at US$1.5bn.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and standard closing conditions. The acquisition follows Holcim’s initial entry into the Peruvian market in 2024.

Uzbekistan: United Cement Group (USG) has appointed Lomanar Eduard-Alexandru as its Technical Director.

Eduard-Alexandru previously worked for Holcim from 2012 to 2025. He started as a Process Technician in 2012 in Slovakia before becoming a Process Engineer. He later held the roles of Process Performance Manager in Russia and Production Manager in Tanzania. He is a graduate in engineering from the University of Oradea in Romania.

UK: Cool Planet Technologies has successfully tested its third-generation carbon capture membrane module at its Grimsby site. The test validated the scalability and performance of the company’s membrane process at flow rates of up to 37,000t/yr of captured CO₂ and recovery rates of 95% CO₂. Further tests were also conducted with a lime manufacturer in for a project which will use Cool Planet’s technology to decarbonise one of its kilns. The module will now be deployed at Holcim’s Höver cement plant in Germany for a 12-month demonstration project.

Andrew Corner, CEO of Cool Planet, said “This achievement validates years of innovation and positions Cool Planet at the forefront of lower cost, scalable industrial carbon capture solutions. The UK tests not only confirmed the performance and robustness of our technology, but also significantly strengthened industry confidence in our ability to help them deliver on their global decarbonisation goals.”

UAE: Holcim and 44.01 have launched a pilot project in Fujairah to mineralise CO₂ captured from cement production, which they say marks the first global initiative to combine carbon capture from a cement plant with in-situ mineralisation. The project aims to directly capture and permanently store 5t/day of CO₂ underground. The pilot is supported by the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation (FNRC) and delivered in collaboration with NT Energies, deploying Shell CANSOLV™ carbon capture technology through the alliance between Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies.

44.01 CEO Talal Hasan said “Working with Holcim, FNRC and NT Energies, we are demonstrating a practical and scalable path to decarbonisation that can be replicated worldwide.”Top of Form

Europe: Holcim has completed the acquisitions of Thames Materials in London and of a majority stake in A&S Recycling in Hanover, and agreed to acquire a third demolition materials recycler in France. The three firms have a combined processing capacity of around 1.3Mt/yr. The acquisitions will support Holcim’s NextGen Growth 2030 target of recycling over 20Mt/yr of construction demolition materials and scale up its ECOCycle circular construction technology.

With Thames Materials, Holcim can now provide circular services across Greater London. The three A&S Recycling sites in Hanover raise Holcim’s German recycling hubs to 10, and the upcoming acquisition in Northwest France will increase Holcim’s French recycling centres to 28.

New Zealand: Holcim New Zealand has confirmed it will sell its cement carrier MV Buffalo, a source of local employment, to Switzerland-based NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers (NACC) at the end of 2025.

A Holcim spokesperson said “Holcim has decided to sell the MV Buffalo and source a replacement vessel. The 27-year-old MV Buffalo is too large, inefficient and costly to run, requiring in excess of US$4.5m in repairs and maintenance over the next four years in order to remain seaworthy. The decision follows a comprehensive review of Holcim’s shipping requirements and operational costs. The review identified the need for a more modern, smaller and cost-effective vessel to maintain supply of cement to the South Island and lower North Island.”

The company began consultation to retire the MV Buffalo in February 2025, and has since confirmed future shipping will be managed by NACC. However, NACC must obtain a government exemption to operate the Panamanian-flagged NACC Vega in domestic waters.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) has opposed the move and urged the government to reject NACC’s flag waiver application. Holcim has reportedly issued formal termination notices to the MV Buffalo’s 32 New Zealand-based crew, effective 28 December 2025. Union negotiations remain unresolved since October 2025 and have been referred to the Employment Relations Authority.

France/Syria: The former Lafarge CEO Bruno Lafont has taken the witness stand at the start of a hearing that will focus on the alleged financing of the Islamic State in Syria in the early 2010s. Lafont took the stand on 19 November 2025 to face questions from the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Paris Judicial Court, according to the Libération newspaper. He is on trial, along with several former senior executives, for financing terrorism in Syria.

At the heart of the trial is the continued operation of the former French multinational’s assets within Syria, a country embroiled in civil war between 2011 and 2014. Lafarge has since been absorbed into Switzerland’s Holcim.

Bruno Lafont joined Lafarge in 1983 and served as its CEO from 2007 to 2015. He maintains that, on a multinational scale, the Syrian plant, located in the city of Jalabiya, north of Raqqa, was not one of the group's most strategic assets. Lafarge nevertheless aimed to supply 30% of the country's cement needs and employ 1000 people, which Lafont conceded was a ‘significant investment.’ The plant only opened shortly before the onset of hostilities.

Explaining the decision to keep the plant running, Lafont asserted that Lafarge keeping the plant open was “a form of commitment to the local communities.” Lafont said that he and his subordinates were bound by a ‘moral obligation,’ stating “These assets were ours, but they also belong to the country, to the region.”

Questioned by the presiding judge, Isabelle Prévost-Desprez, and pressed further by representatives of the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office, Aurélie Valente and Olga Martin-Belliard, the former CEO mostly claimed he hadn't been informed about the situation at the Syrian factory. Prosecutors pointed out that Lafarge had received numerous warnings before the plant was invaded by Islamic State on 19 September 2014. They also pointed out the embassy closures, the mass departure of international companies and the removal of country directors from Syria, asking why these events did not attract the ‘curiosity’ of Lafarge’s CEO. In reply Lafont stated "Before Syria, we had experienced several Arab Springs… and they all stopped.” He also drew parallels to the situation in Egypt, which he described as ‘practically an insurrection.’

In a separate case in the US, Lafarge admitted in 2022 that its Syrian subsidiary paid US$6m to Islamic State and the Nusra Front to allow employees, customers and suppliers to pass through checkpoints after the civil conflict broke out in Syria. The group paid US$778m in forfeiture and fines as part of its plea agreement. Lafarge faces much lower fines in France if it is found guilty, but eight of the 10 individuals on trial face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

The trial in Paris continues.

UK: Holcim UK has appointed Mohamed Ben Driss Alami as the managing director of its Cement Division.

Alami has worked for Holcim and associated companies for 16 years. He started working for Lafarge in France in 2009 as a Corporate Finance Manager before switching to logistics in the US in 2014. He subsequently became the Director of Integration, Strategy & Business Development for Holcim US Cement in 2015, the General Manager - Asphalt & Construction - Mid-Atlantic Region in the US for Aggregate Industries in 2017 and the Country Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Algeria in 2020. Prior to working for Holcim, he was an Adjunct Professor in Economics at the Sciences Po University in France. Alami holds multiple master’s degrees in applied mathematics and is a certified Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).