Displaying items by tag: Joint Venture

Georgia: Xinjiang Tianshan Cement has recently signed an agreement with a Georgian cement company and Xinjiang Hualing Industry & Trade to establish a joint venture in Georgia.

With total investment of US$60m, the joint venture will launch a production line with 3000t/day of clinker capacity and 1.2Mt/yr of cement capacity. Xinjiang Tianshan Cement and Xinjiang Hualing Industry & Trade will control an at least a 65% stake the venture, while the Georgia-based cement company and Xinjiang Hualing Industry & Trade will jointly control a 35% stake at most.

Kazakhstan: International Cement Kazakhstan (ICK), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Compact Metal Industries, has entered into a joint-venture agreement with Nurzhan Shakirov to establish a joint-venture for the construction of a cement plant in Almaty, Kazakhstan and thereafter, for the production and sales of cement.

China: According to Reuters, Anhui Conch's board has agreed to invest US$35.4m to set up a joint venture to acquire Shengta Group's cement-related assets.

China: Germany's AViTEQ Vibrationstechnik GmbH has celebrated the opening of a joint venture in Shanghai with China's Shanghai Finde M&E Tech Co Ltd (Finde). Finde is mainly engaged in drive and control technology business in China and has been supplied with AViTEQ magnetic vibrators for about 10 years.

Increasing domestic demand resulted in the establishment of AViTEQ Industrial Technology, which will manufacture innovative vibrating and processing systems exclusively for the Asian market. The joint venture will combine Chinese steel construction skills and German state-of-the-art drive technology. The technology will be used for screening and conveying in various sectors, including the cement industry, steel production and foundries, building and non-metallic mineral industry, chemical, pharmaceutical as well as plastic applications up to food production. Sales and services will be handled by AViTEQ Industrial Technology. The company will provide a 24 hour spare part delivery service for drives and controls from a local warehouse.

"Thanks to the cooperation with our local partners, we are able to offer our systems in China and neighbouring countries at marketable prices while maintaining the highest quality standards. In the medium-term, we are expecting the new company to gain a comparable successful market position with similar size as the German parent company," said Wolfgang Finger, CEO of AViTEQ Germany.

France: CRH has sold its stake in a French joint venture company called Doras to its partner, Samse, for just under Euro37m. Doras operates specialist and general builders merchants and is particularly prominent in the Burgundy and Franche Comté regions in eastern France. CRH has now sold its 45% stake in the company to the Samse Group, which already holds a 55% share in the firm, for Euro36.6m. The move was recently given the green light by the Competition Authority.

India: Jaypee Group is reportedly in talks with HeidelbergCement and JSW Cement to form a joint venture that will control the majority of its cement plants. The plan envisages a separate joint venture entity that will house around 20 – 22Mt/yr of Jaypee's operational plants in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The venture may exclude Jaypee's first cement plant in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, which has approximately 3Mt/yr of cement production capacity.

Mexico: Cemex has created an energy division, Cemex Energia, to take advantage of Mexico's landmark energy reform and launch power projects that could provide up to 5% of Mexico's electricity requirements within five years.

Cemex has struggled with a large debt load and cost-cutting since an ill-timed US$16bn takeover of Australian rival Rinker in 2007, when the US housing market nosedived. In recent years, Cemex has been slashing costs and has looked to sell assets to regain a coveted investment grade rating. Cemex executives are hopeful that Mexico's energy reform will be a lucrative new path.

"We are very enthusiastic about Mexico's energy sector future and we will leverage on our experience in developing projects that benefit the country," said Cemex CEO Fernando Gonzalez.

Cemex will invest US$30m in Cemex Energia in the next five years. Cemex has also signed a joint venture agreement with Pattern Energy Group Inc, which owns wind power projects, to create 1GW of renewable power in Mexico in the next five years. Pattern said that new legislation in Mexico, which mandates that 35% of Mexico's power must come from renewable sources by 2024, prompted it to expand.

China: Gezhouba Group Cement, a subsidiary of China Gezhouba Group, has signed an agreement with Hubei Zhongxia Cement to set up a joint venture to restructure the assets and businesses of Zhongxia Cement.

The joint venture, with a registered capital of US$190m, will be engaged in production and sales of cement, clinker and fine slag powder and opencast mining of limestone for cement uses. Gezhouba Cement will hold 51% of the venture and Zhongxia Cement will hold the remaining 49%. The venture will acquire the entire current assets of inventories for cement production and operation of Zhongxia Cement after establishment.

Australia: Terra Cement, a sustainable cement technology company, has signed a joint venture agreement with Ore Mines International (OMI) in South Australia to form a new company, called Terra Cement Australia (TCA). TCA will engage in the marketing of Terra's proprietary process (patent pending) for producing sustainable cement using ash in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

"As collaborators with a global reach and local market knowledge, industry leaders such as OMI play a significant role driving innovation to market," said Henry Val, CEO at Terra. "OMI's expertise enables rapid commercialisation by freeing us to focus on the development of our core technology. Likewise, our technology gives OMI access to a large, new market that would not exist without Terra."

TCA will convert existing cement plants and mixing facilities to produce hydrogel made from fly ash in Australia. When organic proprietary liquids are added, sustainable cement is produced, which is stronger, more durable and cures faster than Ordinary Portland Cement. No thermal energy is used and no carbon dioxide emissions are produced during the manufacturing process.

OMI has conducted preliminary testing of the ash available in Australia and has determined it to be suitable for the production of its cement. OMI has ordered the design for the conversion process for its existing facilities and will complete the process in the near future. TCA, as a joint venture, will begin its operations by the end of 2014.

Egypt/Brazil: Egypt's Arabian Cement has entered a joint venture for a cement grinding plant with Brazil's Cementos La Union. The project is worth US$28.8m.

Arabian Cement's board of directors approved the venture with Cementos Relampago, an affiliate of Cementos La Union, 'to establish a cement grinding plant in Northwest Brazil with a total capacity of 230,000t/yr.' The US$28.8m investment cost will be financed 50% through debt and equity. Arabian Cement's contribution would be US$8.76m, representing 60% of the total paid-in capital.