Displaying items by tag: Investment

Dominican Republic: Cemex is carrying out investments of US$22.8m in the Dominican Republic. They include US$18.4m of improvements to its San Pedro de Macoris cement plant and US$4.35m for various activities to strengthen the business. Among the investments will be a waste heat recovery (WHR) system to generate 7MW of electricity, improvements in the calcination system to cut Cemex's carbon footprint, purchases of equipment to increase bagging efficiency by 30% and more trucks to make its concrete mixer fleet the largest of its Caribbean operations at 110 units. Cemex is also involved in housing projects to ease the country's shortage.

Cambodia/China: Huaxin Cement has injected US$24m into Cambodia Cement Chakrey Ting Factory to acquire a 40% stake in the southeast Asia-based company on 17 June 2014. After the investment, the Cambodia cement producer's registered capital grew to US$60m from US$32m. The Hubei Province-based cement manufacturer said that the acquisition in Cambodia is the company's second overseas investment after establishing a subsidiary in Tajikistan in 2011.

Portugal: Cimpor intends to invest around US$1.33bn in Latin America by 2017, according to its CEO Ricardo Lima. The main objective of Cimpor is to reinforce its position in Brazil where it already operates in all regions, except in the northern parts of the country, Lima told the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

The Portugal-based cement producer will spend part of the investment building a new cement plant in northern Brazil, at either Belém or Manaus. Due to positive results in the Argentine market another plant is planned for Argentina's western province of San Juan. In October 2013 Cimpor will inaugurate a plant in Paraguay where it holds a 35% share of the market but where it currently sells its surplus Portuguese cement.

Nigeria: The Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) has disclosed plans to raise US$280m for the establishment of a new 1Mt/yr cement production line.

According to the chairman of CCNN, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, the board of the company is now ready to implement the resolution passed at the 32nd AGM (in 2011) that authorised it to raise the necessary funds.

To help the expansion, the investment includes new coal grinding mill and accessories to help it produce more electricity. CCNN currently produces 90% of its required electrical energy requirements due to high prices and unreliable national network provision. The chairman added that the company had previously implemented an alternative fuel strategy by using rice husks. This has already cut its production costs by 15%.

CCNN made a net profit of US$7.4m in the year to 31 December 2012. This was down by nearly 50% compared to the US$14.2m that it made in the year to 31 December 2011.

Russia: Eurocement Group has announced that it will invest Euro203.9m on the upgrade of its affiliate company Mikhailovskcement, which is located in the Ryazan Region in the west of Russia.

Eurocement said that the upgrade will see the plant's capacity rise to 3.6Mt/yr from 1.9Mt/yr via the addition of a new dry-process cement kiln line. The plant currently has four wet process kilns. A time-scale for completion of the upgrade was not given.

Belarus: President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has approved the creation a new cement company, the Belarusian Cement Corporation. The new holding company is expected to control three cement manufacturers: Belarusian Cement Plant in Kastsyukovichy, Mahilyow region, Krasnaselskbudmateryyaly in Vawkavysk, Hrodna region, and Krychawtsementnashyfer in the Mahilyow region, as well as a transport and logistics company.

The Belarusian Cement Corporation is to be established in 2014 and attract a strategic investor in 2015. The establishment of the corporation is intended to decrease production costs, increase profits and raise exports. After project capacity is achieved in 2015, the company will have a cement production capacity of 9.5Mt/yr.

Indonesia: Semen Indonesia plans to invest up to US$2bn on expansion projects by 2016, according to the Jakarta Post. The company's finance director Ahyanizzaman was cited as saying that the government-owned cement producer would prepare and invest thee funds in separate stages with around US$190m earmarked for investment in 2013.

Semen Indonesia, which accounts for nearly 50% of the total cement sales in Indonesia, is looking to increase its cement production capacity to 40Mt/yr by 2017 from 30Mt/yr at present to meet the rising demands in Southeast Asia. It plans to around US$580m in 2014 and 2015, and around US$380m in 2016.

Zimbabwe: Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has announced plans to invest US$200m within the next 10 years towards setting up a new cement manufacturing plant. Lafarge Managing Director Jonathan Shoniwa told local press at the company's launch event for Lafarge's 'Building Better Cities" branding campaign that Lafarge Zimbabwe would add 1Mt/yr of cement capacity to its current 0.45Mt/yr. He said the move would also increase its market share from its current level of 38%.

In 2013 Lafarge Zimbabwe is targeting a market share of 40% on account of its strong branding in the country and expects to continue to benefit from the continued growth in demand for cement. In 2012 local demand grew 10%. Growth of 5% is expected in 2013.

Like many other local manufacturing firms, cement producers are facing competition from imports. Recently, PG Industries indicated plans to import cement after seeing an opportunity in the market. "I think competition is always there and you can't shut it out completely," said Shoniwa. "You need to just play the game but we have a strong brand. Other players can import cement, but it takes time to build a brand. They can push volumes but it's not an overnight job to build a brand," Shoniwa said.

Shoniwa also took advantage of the Building Better Cities branding campaign to also announce plans for a multi-million US Dollar low-cost, high-density residential housing scheme. He said the cement producer would partner with banks, local authorities and other relevant players to see the project through.

"We are at the design stage. We are having discussions with possible partners and so far it's looking very positive," Shoniwa said, adding Lafarge's target was to bring the cost of constructing a standard high-density residential housing unit to US$10,000. When people talk of affordable housing, the thing that comes to mind is cheap. It does not necessarily have to be cheap in terms of quality so there is that innovation to say we should come up with new building materials that are

cost-effective."

Authorities are expected to provide land parcels while banks are expected to provide long-term and affordable funding for the scheme to enable beneficiaries to build houses at their own pace. Lafarge Zimbabwe is targeting a 29% increase in the top line in the current financial year after reporting revenue inflows of US$69.9m in the year to December 2012, an increase of 41% from 2011.

Shoniwa said that Lafarge Zimbabwe's full-year revenue is expected to rise to US$90m in 2013, with individual home builders expected to continue supporting the upward trend.

Nepal: Nigerian cement producer Dangote Cement has formally expressed interest to build a US$550m cement plant in Nepal. Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has received an application from Dangote, according to a press release from the IBN.

IBN CEO Radhesh Pant also confirmed to Nepalese newspaper República that Dangote is looking for mines in Nepal. Dangote has expressed interest in setting up a plant in the western Nepalese district of Surkhet.

India: Baring Asia is in advanced talks with Lafarge India to invest around US$240m in the cement producer, according to private sources quoted by Reuters. Private equity firm Baring Asia is negotiating the investment for a minority stake.

Lafarge has four cement plants in India with a combined production capacity of 7.75Mt/yr. It has been selling assets around the world as part of an on-going debt reduction programme. Recent sales include that of a Ukrainian plant to CRH in late April 2013, the sale of a portfolio of its UK operations to Mittal Investments for US$439m in November 2012 and the sale of two of Lafarge's cement plants in North America to Eagle Materials for US$446m in September 2012.