Displaying items by tag: Refractory
RHI Magnesita reports 'solid performance' in 2022
27 February 2023Austria: RHI Magnesita reported revenues of Euro3.3bn throughout 2022, up by 30% year-on-year from 2021 levels. The refractories supplier's raw materials and shipping costs rose, but it was able to offset the rise by increasing its prices. The company said that this generated Euro600m in additional revenues, enabling it to maintain profitability 'through a challenging economic cycle.' It noted global volatility and uncertainty, which it expects to continue into 2023, for which it forecast a full-year drop in global cement demand. It expects 'strong growth' in India to offset any resulting decline in its sales in other markets.
RHI Magnesita CEO Stefan Borgas said "I am pleased to report growing progress on our mergers and acquisitions strategy, with acquisitions in India, China, Türkiye and Europe agreed or completed during the year. Whilst the outlook for 2023 is more uncertain than prior years due to slowing demand for refractories and softer pricing in certain regions, RHI Magnesita is able to face these challenges in a much stronger condition as a result of the implementation of its strategic cost savings and sales strategies over the past four years."
RHI Magnesita invests in MCi Carbon on decarbonisation deal
15 February 2023Austria: RHI Magnesita has invested in Australia-based MCi Carbon as part of a long-term strategic cooperation agreement to research and develop technologies to decarbonise the production of refractories. MCi Carbon sells a mineral carbonation process that creates a range of low-carbon embodied materials, including calcium and magnesium carbonate by carbonating minerals in by-products of industrial processes. RHI Magnesita intends to use this process to reduce its Scope 1 emissions from mineral processing during its refractory production process.
Stefan Borgas, the chief executive officer of RHI Magnesita, said "This partnership could become a breakthrough towards decarbonising the industry. It fits seamlessly with RHI Magnesita's ambitious sustainability strategy." He added "We still have a long way to go but our early-stage investment and the clear intention of a long-term collaboration make this day so memorable. Together with the like-minded team from MCi we will pave the way for a greener industry."
So far, both companies have worked together on CO2 mitigation studies, mineral carbonisation feedstock assessments and techno-economic analyses at RHI Magnesita's sites around the world. In a next step, the companies' joint efforts will focus on industrial scale-up, expected to start in 2024 with the set-up of a demonstration plant by MCi at Newcastle in Australia, supported by the Australian government.
Platinum Equity completes acquisition of Calderys
01 February 2023France: Private equity investment company Platinum Equity has completed its acquisition of Calderys from Imerys. It announced in July 2022 that it had agreed to pay around Euro930m to buy Imerys’ High Temperature Solutions business (HTS). Michel Cornelissen will remain as the president and chief executive officer of the refractory manufacturer.
In December 2022 Platinum Equity said that it has signed a definitive merger agreement to buy HarbisonWalker International (HWI), a supplier of refractory products and services in North America. the move is intended to create a global refractories supplier. The HWI deal is expected to complete in the first half of 2023 subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval.
Carsten Riisberg Lund appointed as chair of Hasle Refractories
11 January 2023Demark: Hasle Refractories has appointed Carsten Riisberg Lund as chair of its board of directors.
Riisberg Lund has worked in the cement industry for 35 years mostly for equipment supplier FLSmidth. His most recent role was as FLSmidth’s Cement Industry President since late 2020. Before this he worked as the President for Region Europe, North Africa and Russia (ENAR). He started his career as a Process and Commissioning Engineer for FLSmidth. Since then he led FLSmidth’s former Material Handling division and spent three years as managing director in India.
Piotr Sperka appointed as Site Director at Vesuvius Poland
11 January 2023Poland: Vesuvius Poland has appointed Piotr Sperka as Site Director and the president of its management board. He has worked for Vesuvius and its US-based subsidiary since 2007. He started as a production manager for Vesuvius USA, eventually becoming a Plant Operations Producer Manager in 2017. He later held roles as the Operations Manager - Advanced Refractories in Poland for Vesuvius and SLG and Purging Products Director EMEA. Sperka holds a master’s degree in mechanics and machine design from the Cracow University of Technology and a qualification in Postgraduate Business Studies.
Cuba: Corporación Cementos Cubanos’ has resumed production once more at its Siguaney integrated cement plant in Sancti Spíritus Province. The plant was closed for the last seven months of 2022 due to technical issues. Escambray News has reported that plant manager Gonzalo Reina Aguilar said that imported refractory bricks proved crucial to the successful repair operation. Reina Aguilar also noted a ‘better energy situation’ in the country, ensuring the plant of its ‘necessary allocations’ in future.
Corporación Cementos Cubanos hopes that the return of the Siguaney plant to regular operations will help to ease a shortage of cement in Sancti Spíritus and neighbouring Ciego de Ávila.
Platinum Equity acquires HarbisonWalker International
15 December 2022US: Investment firm Platinum Equity has concluded a deal to acquire refractories producer HarbisonWalker International (HWI).
HWI chair CEO Carol Jackson said “This is excellent news for our employees, customers, and communities. Platinum Equity supports our intent to continue driving HWI forward into an unprecedented new era of growth. Over the past several years in North America and throughout our global operations, we’ve built operational excellence, differentiated ourselves through our supply reliability, and delivered the deepest and widest offerings of refractory products and expertise. Our new owner is wholly aligned with our leadership team’s vision to aggressively accelerate investments in our business. We are poised to capitalise on the momentum that our team of employees has built together."
RHI Magnesita to acquire Indian refractory business of Dalmia Bharat Refractories Limited
23 November 2022India: RHI Magnesita has agreed to buy the India-based refractory business of Dalmia Bharat Refractories (DBR). The acquisition will take place via a share swap agreement in exchange for 27m shares in RHI Magnesita India. The Austria-based refractory manufacturer hopes to grow its presence in the Indian market and benefit from market synergies. DBR employs approximately 1200 people in India. It has a production capacity of over 300,000t/yr of refractory and operates five refractory plants and raw material sites. The acquisition will add production capacities in industrial regions in the south and west of India where RHI Magnesita currently has no assets. No completion date for the transaction has been disclosed.
Stefan Borgas, the chief executive officer of RHI Magnesita, said, “We see material financial and operational benefits from the addition of the Dalmia Bharat Refractories business to our existing network, which will enable us to increasingly serve our customers with a ‘local for local’ approach in India and offer a broader range of products, in particular in the Industrial segment, in which RHI Magnesita is currently under-represented. This transaction demonstrates our ability to continue to grow our business in India where the outlook for the refractory industry is strong, at a time when demand in other geographies is weakening.”
Imerys opens calcium aluminate binder plant
13 October 2022India: Imerys has inaugurated a 30,000t/yr calcium aluminate binder plant at Atchatapuram in Andhra Pradesh. The Hindu newspaper has reported that the plant will supply refractory production and construction uses. Imerys plans to expand the plant's capacity to 50,000t/yr by 2030, in order to serve rising demand deriving from India's growing cement sector. This will make it Imerys' largest plant in the country.
RHI Magnesita leads refractories recycling project
02 September 2022Europe: RHI Magnesita is heading a European Union Horizon project called ReSoURCE. The project seeks to develop a sensor-based refractory waste sorting and powder handling system. It involves academic partners in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Norway and the UK. The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) supplied Euro6m in funding for the study, while the UK government supplied Euro1m. Global refractory waste generation is currently 28Mt/yr.
RHI Magnesita chief executive officer Stefan Borgas said “On average, 60% of all spent refractories generated by refractory-consuming industries go to landfill, while only 30% are recycled. With the ReSoURCE project, we aim to increase it up to 75%. This means we can achieve significant savings of CO2 emissions per annum. With this research project, we have the chance to make a difference in the world.”