Displaying items by tag: Scancem International

Tanzania: The Tanzania Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT) has ruled that Heidelberg Materials subsidiary Scancem International cannot acquire Tanga Cement from AfriSam at present. The Fair Competition Committee had previously approved the acquisition to proceed in February 2023. In its latest ruling, the FCT found that the commission had not been within its powers to set aside a previous court ruling of the FCT, dated September 2022. The FCT acknowledged that the market situation may have changed since its first ruling, but underlined the need for legal procedure.

Judge Salma Maghimbi said “The act or conduct of the two respondents did not send a good message to the public, nor to potential investors who would have been interested in coming to invest in our country.”

Tanzania: The government has defended its support for the acquisition of a majority stake in Tanga Cement by a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials. In 2021 Scancem International, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials, agreed to buy a 68% share of Tanga Cement from AfriSam for around US$59m. The Fair Competition Commission (FCC) provisionally approved the deal but the Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT) blocked it in late 2022 following lobbying by Chalinze Cement and the Tanzania Consumer Advocacy Society on the grounds that it would potentially reduce market competition, according to the Citizen newspaper. However, Scancem International applied again to the FCC in December 2022 to push through the agreement. This motion was then approved in February 2023.

During a parliamentary debate on the issue in early May 2023 Ashatu Kijaji, the Minister for Industry and Trade, defended the decision to re-approve the deal on the grounds that the approved merger application was different from the one rejected by the FCT. However, other members of parliament were sceptical about the decision.

Togo/Benin: Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHE) has been awarded an order by Norway’s Scancem International, part of Heidelberg Cement group, to supply motors for Ciments Du Togo and Cimbenin. The motors will be manufactured and supplied by BHE's Bhopal plant.

Guinea-Bissau: Maxime Cardoz and HeidelbergCement subsidiary Scancem has applied to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for a loan of Euro11m to help finance Guinea-Bissau's first cement grinding plant. The project is estimated to cost a total of Euro22m.

The Cardoz Cimentos de Bissau project is 60% under the ownership of Cardoz and 40% by Scancem. Its location will be 1.5km from the port of Bissau, a plant location in an area which at present absorbs 50% of the country's cement consumption. A decision on the funding will likely be finalised on 27 February 2015.

Cement consumption in Guinea-Bissau is dependent upon imports, mainly sourced from Senegal via the country's sole port at Bissau and accounts for 80% of its international trade.