Displaying items by tag: South Africa

South Africa: An order by South African competition authorities to delay cement industry statistics by three months will negatively affect perceptions of economic activity in the country, according to industry newcomer Sephaku Cement.

The CEO of Sephaku Pieter Fourie said that the directive by the South African Competition Commission to the Cement and Concrete Institute that it delay the publication of its quarterly national cement sales figures by three months made 'no sense'. The institute represents the four major cement producers in South Africa: Pretoria Portland Cement, AfriSam, Lafarge and NPC-Cimpor.

Sephaku, a Nigerian-backed newcomer, is building an integrated cement production facility in the Limpopo province, where it intends to produce cement from the fourth quarter of 2013. It says that cement sales form a large component of construction activity in South Africa and are a leading economic indicator. Sephaku believe that the change in reporting will affect related economic predictions.

Stephan Olivier, CEO of AfriSam, commented that the change in industry reporting was a bid to make it difficult to use the data for anti-competitive behaviour. Simon Roberts, chief economist and manager of the commission's policy and research division, said that companies had previously used the data provided by the institute to 'monitor' their cartel agreement.

Projects by Nigerian-backed Sephaku and a new Chinese-backed empowerment entity, Conticem, will boost South Africa's capacity by nearly 5Mt/yr. Both Sephaku and AfriSam anticipate a better industry outlook in 2012 but uncertainty remains over the government's ability to accelerate its infrastructure plans.

South Africa: The French multinational Lafarge will pay US$19.3m after it was found guilty of involvement in a cement cartel in South Africa. The Competition Tribunal confirmed that the settlement represented 6% of Lafarge's 2010 turnover in the Southern African Customs Union countries (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia). AfriSam, another of the cartel participants, previously agreed to pay an 'administrative penalty' of US$16.1m.

South Africa: Lafarge Industries SA has admitted taking part in a cement cartel and agreed to pay a US$19.6m penalty. The company reached the settlement with the South African Competition Commission after admitting to having taken part in price fixing and market division in the cement industry. As part of the deal Lafarge agreed to pay the penalty, 6% of its 2010 annual turnover in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) region, which covers South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia.

The case, which has been running since 2008, has investigated dealings at Lafarge, Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC), AfriSam and Natal Portland Cement-Cimpor (NPC-Cimpor). Following a 2009 raid at the offices of the accused parties, PPC applied for leniency and confirmed the existence of a cartel among the four cement producers. In December 2011, an agreement was reached with Afrisam, in which it confirmed the information provided by PPC and agreed to pay a US$16.5m penalty, representing 3% of its 2010 annual turnover in the SACU region.

The commission said that it will continue to investigate NPC-Cimpor.

Switzerland: Holcim surprised investors with a profit warning today, after announcing it would take a Euro641m hit in one-off charges on its 2011 accounts. The bulk of the impairment relates to a Holcim-specific issue in South Africa regarding AfriSam but analysts noted the decision to write down the value of assets in parts of Europe and the US on the back of sharply lower demand could be echoed by other cement makers.

"Some mature markets will never again see the record levels of profitability of the mid-2000s. Other players could be forced to do the same," warned Josep Pujal of Kepler Capital Markets.

Euro343m of Holcim's charges stemmed from completely writing down its remaining South Africa investment following a steep fall in demand for construction materials in the country since 2010. Holcim's South African exposure stems from its former local subsidiary, the country's biggest cement maker by sales, AfriSam. The remainder of the write-offs stem from adjusting property, equipment and goodwill lines in the group's accounts to much weaker markets. Some Euro271m in writedowns related to Spain and eastern Europe and Euro26m related to the US.

South Africa: South African cement sales rose for the first time in four years in 2011.

Sales climbed by 3.2% to 11.2Mt/yr in 2011 compared with 2010, when they fell by 7.8%, according to newly released figures from the Johannesburg-based Cement and Concrete Institute. Sales dipped by 1.8% to 730,000t in December 2011 from a year earlier.

"A long-term recovery in South African cement demand is long overdue and latest industry trends indicate that further decline is unlikely," said Pretoria Portland Cement Co, South Africa's largest cement producer.

India: Aditya Birla Group is considering buying Lafarge's operations in South Africa to further bolster its presence overseas. The US$35bn conglomerate, which owns India's biggest cement producer Ultratech, is conducting an initial assessment for a possible bid for the Lafarge unit. Lafarge South Africa Holding has a value, comprising both equity and debt, close to US$800-900m according to a report from December 2011. It has a cement capacity of over 3Mt/yr and it operates 20 quarries and 55 ready-mix concrete plants.

The sell-off of its cement operations in the region is part of Lafarge's plans to restructure its global operations through a series of asset sales to retire debt, which currently stands at over US$18bn. Lafarge may also sell off its majority equity holding in Pan African Cement, which has its units in Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi.

A spokeswoman for the Aditya Birla Group declined to comment on the report. The group, one of the world's 10 largest cement producers, operates across 36 countries and has recently considered bids for overseas coal assets. Lafarge has also been unavailable for comment.

Another Indian company Shree Cement is also believed to have shown interest in the asset. "We have initially shown some interest in the project but we would not like to comment on the present status," stated an unnamed senior group official.

South Africa: Lafarge, the world's largest cement maker, is rumoured to be seeking a buyer for its cement operations in South Africa in a deal that may fetch US$700-800m. Potential bidders are rumoured to include the Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, the owner of India's largest cement maker, UltraTech Cement Ltd.

South Africa: A South African court ruled on 2 December 2011 that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) can convert AfriSam's debt of US$580m into equity. PIC, which manages US$120bn in South African state pensions, will now gain control of the South African producer. This will enable it to restructure the company's debt which threatens to bankrupt the company.

AfriSam's two largest shareholders, empowerment venture Bunker Hills Investments and Holcim, previously applied to block the conversion of preference shares into ordinary shares, but this was dismissed by Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann in the North Gauteng High Court.

AfriSam CEO Stephan Olivier said, "Our focus... remains on the day-to-day operations of the company and ensuring maximum operational and financial efficiency." AfriSam had earlier said Bunker Hills and Holcim had a contractual obligation in respect of the conversion.

Holcim created AfriSam in 2006 by selling 37% of its South African business to investors led by Bunker Hills, and retaining a 15% stake. Bunker Hills had earlier said these shareholdings would be diluted to 'almost nothing' after the PIC preference share conversion.

In his ruling Judge Bertelsmann said, "There can be no suggestion that there is any illegal threat to the applicant's rights." He also said AfriSam's board must approve the conversion of the PIC's preference shares into equity within 20 days.

"Owing to the limits of confidentiality we are not in a position to provide all details. This is purely to avoid jeopardising the current stakeholder's engagements," the PIC CEO Elias Masilela said after the judgement.

South Africa: The South African Competition Commission has reached a settlement agreement with AfriSam, which has admitted that it took part in a cement cartel.

AfriSam has agreed to pay a penalty of USD16m representing 3% of its 2010 cement annual turnover in the Southern African Customs Union (comprising South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia). This settlement is a reflection of AfriSam's material cooperation with the Commission in uncovering and providing further information on its conduct.

"This settlement is a reflection of AfriSam's material co-operation with the commission in uncovering and providing further information on the conduct," the commission commented on 1 November 2011.

This agreement follows the Commission's investigation of price fixing and market allocation against four main domestic producers Pretoria Portland Cement Company Limited (PPC), Lafarge Industries South Africa (Lafarge), AfriSam Consortium Ltd and Natal Portland Cement Cimpor (NPC-Cimpor). Previously, PPC applied for leniency and confirmed the existence of a cartel among the four cement producers. In terms of the settlement, AfriSam admits that it entered into agreements and arrangements with PPC, Lafarge and NPC to divide markets and indirectly fix the price of cement. The case against Lafarge and NPC continues.

"To facilitate this process we conducted a systematic and comprehensive review of some of the company's business practices from a competition law perspective," Stephan Olivier, AfriSam CEO stated. "We are, of course, saddened and embarrassed by what has happened. I say categorically that the AfriSam of today is an honourable and ethical company, fully committed to rigorous compliance with competition law."

South Africa: AfriSam has announced that, notwithstanding the weak state of South Africa's construction industry, it is resuming its plans for a USD 320.4m integrated cement plant in the Saldanha Bay area to meet future demand.

The country's cement industry is reeling from four years of consecutive declines and has been hit hard by the lull that has followed the completion of large projects related to the 2010 Football World Cup. A seriously depressed housing market started its slide in late 2007 and was further battered by the effects of the global economic downturn.

Despite all of these problems, AfriSam said that it wanted to take advantage of its large limestone deposit near Saldanha and improve market penetration in the Western Cape. With continued population growth and the need for housing and infrastructure, there are indications that the local market will benefit from the presence of an additional cement supplier, according to company CEO Stephan Olivier.

AfriSam says that the proposed Saldanha project will commence with the expansion of its nearby limestone quarry and construction of a cement grinding and packing plant at a cost of about USD 87.4m. Ultimately, an integrated plant will be built alongside at a further cost of about USD 233m.

AfriSam also says the proximity of Saldanha's deep water port will facilitate exports, which will enable the plant to be scaled-up to achieve improved environmental and production efficiency. "We are seeking approval (to build the plant) by means of an environmental impact assessment," said Olivier.

Other cement producers are reportedly bemused by the news, especially because AfriSam intends to construct its new plant in a province that has seen building and construction demand fall by 50% since mid-2007. Anton Weavind, CEO of Conticem said "I know that AfriSam needs to expand but the worst place they could possible do this is in the Western Cape. There is not much money in exporting cement."