Displaying items by tag: Sale

Sweden: Sandvik has signed an agreement to divest its Mining Systems operations to the private equity company CoBe Capital. Sandvik will maintain ownership of on-going projects that are close to completion. The deal is expected to complete during the fourth quarter of 2016. No purchase price has been disclosed.

“Divesting the Mining Systems is an important step in consolidating Sandvik to its core operations, which for Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology is high technology mining equipment and aftermarket offerings,” said Bjorn Rosengren, president and CEO of Sandvik.

Mining Systems is a supplier of design and engineering of material handling systems for the mining industry. In 2015 the Mining Systems operations, with 1100 employees, had annual sales of Euro527m representing 6% of Sandvik Group revenues.

Vietnam: The Ministry of Construction is planning to sell its stake in Vicem through an initial public offering in the fourth quarter of 2016. The cement producer has said previously that the state is planning to reduce its holding to 51%. Investors from Indonesia and Thailand have expressed interest in acquiring stakes in Vicem, according to the Dau Tu newspaper.

Vicem, previously known as the Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation, has stakes in 31 companies, mostly cement producers and distributors. Its gross profit reportedly doubled last year to US$105.2m in 2015. It currently controls 34% of the market in Vietnam.

Belgium/US: HeidelbergCement has made a shortlist of potential bidders for assets in Belgium and the US that should be divested as part of its acquisition of Italcementi, according to Bloomberg. Bidders for Italcementi’s Belgian business include Turkey’s Çimsa Çimento and Italy’s Cementir Holding. The business are valued at around US$400m. Bidders for Italcementi’s US assets include Summit Materials and CRH. This business are valued at around US$600m according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. All shortlisted bidders will face a due diligence process.

Sri Lanka: The Industry and Commerce Ministry has queried the sale of Holcim Lanka, LafargeHolcim’s business on the island. Industry and Commerce Ministry Secretary TMKB Tennakoon contacted Holcim Lanka in March 2016 to point out that the government has not benefitted from deals with the cement producer to allow it to build a quarry and that it can control attempts to sell some of its assets, according to the Daily News newspaper.

Tennakoon has raised the issue that the Sri Lankan government is not making profit out of a lease agreement, started in 1993, which gave Holcim Lanka mineral rights to a quarry in Aruwakkalu, Puttalam. In addition the cement producer was granted a 12-year tax holiday on funds borrowed from within Sri Lanka, the ministry claims. The ministry has informed Holcim Lanka that it is in the process of evaluating the terms and conditions of the agreement ‘in order to gain more benefits to the industry and the country’ and warns Holcim Lanka that in the terms of Section 4(b) of the agreement, Holcim Lanka cannot transfer or sub-let the premises without the consent of the government-owned Cement Corporation.

LafargeHolcim announced that it was leaving the cement business in Sri Lanka in early June 2016. The Industry and Commerce Ministry was expressed its interest in buying the local company.

France: Private equity firm Astorg is to sell company Kerneos, according to sources reported on by Reuters. Investment bank Lazard has been appointed to work on the sale. The sale of the calcium aluminate cements producer could generate around Euro1bn. None of the parties commented on the story.

Kerneos started as a joint venture between subsidiaries of Lone Star Industries and Lafarge Coppée in 1970. It was purchased by Astorg from building materials business Materis in 2014 for around Euro600m.

Sri Lanka: LafargeHolcim is exiting its cement business in Sri Lanka, according to the EconomyNext financial news service. A spokesperson said the decision to sell its subsidiary Holcim Lanka was part of a larger global divestment strategy. The company operates the country’s only integrated cement plant, a cement grinding plant and a bagging plant.

Mexico: Cemex has closed the sale of its operations in Bangladesh and Thailand to Siam City Cement for approximately US$53m. The proceeds obtained from this transaction will be used mainly for debt reduction and for general corporate purposes. The deal was announced in March 2016.

South Korea: Creditors could put Hyundai Cement on sale in 2016, according to sources quoted by the Korea Herald. The South Korean cement producer has been on a debt management scheme. Its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank, will be able to complete any sale when the lock-up period on their shares in the company expire at the end of 2016.

Previously the company suffered financially from the misfortunes of its affiliate Sungwoo Engineering & Construction. Sungwoo has since been sold to other investors.

South Korea/Saudi Arabia/Morocco: LafargeHolcim has confirmed plans to divest its assets in South Korea and Saudi Arabia and to enlarge its presence its Morocco. The announcement was made as part of the release of its annual results 2015. The sales form part of the group’s Euro3.2bn divestment program

In Morocco, the group signed an agreement with SNI, its partner in the country, at the same time as the Lafarge-Holcim merger to enlarge its joint-venture by merging Lafarge Ciments Maroc and Holcim Maroc to create LafargeHolcim Maroc. LafargeHolcim and SNI would own a 64.7% stake in the new company once the merger is complete. The group expects to gain a synergy savings of Euro41m over two years from the merger.

LafargeHolcim and SNI also agreed to create a common platform in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016 subject to regulatory authorities’ approval, customary closing conditions and the approval of the shareholders of Lafarge Ciments Maroc and Holcim Maroc.

In South Korea, the group has confirmed that it has signed an agreement with a consortium of private equity funds - Glenwood and Baring Asia - for the divestment of Lafarge Halla Cement in South Korea for Euro427m. The sale is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2016. Lafarge Halla Cement runs one 8.3Mt/yr integrated cement plant, a distribution network across the country and has around 500 employees.

In Saudi Arabia the group has signed an agreement for the sale of the Group’s 25% stake in Al Safwa Cement Company to El-Khayyat Group for total proceeds of Euro120m. This transaction is expected to close in the course of the third quarter of 2016.

Uzbeksitan: Uzbekistan has put on sale state shares in Kyzylkumcement. According to the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Privatization, Demonopolization and Development of Competition, the government wants to sell a 35.9% state shares or 160,658,567 shares in Kyzylkumcement for a total of over US$160m. Sales of the state-owned cement producer will be handled by the block-trading section of Uzbekistan Stock Exchange.

Kyzylkumcement was launched in 1977. It is the largest cement plant in Uzbekistan with a production capacity of 3.1Mt/yr.