Displaying items by tag: World

World: Switzerland-based Holcim has launched its ECOPlanet reduced-CO₂ cement range in six European markets and Canada. The range offers at least 30% lower emissions than Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). It includes one cement produced using recycled construction and demolition waste.

Chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said “Driving the circular economy, our ECOPlanet range includes the world’s first cement with 20% recycled construction and demolition waste inside, advancing our net zero vision in a nature-positive way. With the world’s population rising and rapid urbanisation, solutions like ECOPlanet are critical to enable greener cities and smarter infrastructure, building more with less.”

The group plans to introduce the range to 15 countries by 2022 and double its market presence in 2023.

World: Cemex has said that it is part of a group of companies jointly launching Restarting Together - an initiative aimed a reinvigorating the economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. It says that the initiative aims, “to find innovative projects that seek to expedite the return to normality after the confinement period.” It added, “This initiative also looks to identify projects to boost economic recovery in a sustainable way, aimed specially at improving employment, revitalising the ecosystem of small businesses, and creating networks and financial aid mechanisms for crisis situations.”

Restarting Together is welcoming innovative project proposals from the public until 30 June 2020. The criteria on which proposals will be assessed are their ‘social and economic impact, feasibility, rapid implementation time, and degree of sustainability and innovation.’

India: Market researcher Fortune Business Insights has forecasted market growth of 5.2% in the cement industry to US$463bn in 2026 from US$313bn in 2019. It conjectured that global improvements in road quality and investments in high-grade products will drive growing demand. The industry will meet this demand through advances in cement production and a reduction in the number of companies consolidating operations.

In India, the government’s ‘Housing for All by 2020’ scheme is set to kick-start consumption.

Fortune Business Insights' report is available here.

World: Holcim and Lafarge have begun to formally notify regulators as to how they will tackle antitrust concerns, according to Holcim's CEO Bernard Fontana. The two companies have filed formal notifications, which generally include information on what the combined entity will look like and steps it will take to prevent it from abusing its size, in about two-thirds of the 15 jurisdictions that require a review of the proposed deal. Those include the US, Canada, Mexico, India and Russia, among others.

Fontana said that discussions with the European Union (EU), where the two companies have some of their greatest overlap, were at an 'advanced' stage. He added that he expects formal notification to be made in the summer of 2014. "We are on track," said Fontana, who has run Holcim since 2012. "We will do what we planned to do."

Holcim and France's Lafarge have moved quickly to satisfy regulators since unveiling their proposed transaction, which will create a cement company with combined sales of Euro31.8bn. The deal is expected to face significant challenges from competition authorities. EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia has already said that the deal is likely to face an extended probe by his agency.

Fontana said that the list of proposed businesses and plants it would sell in order to satisfy regulators, which it announced recently, would maintain entire businesses that function well and generate the greatest proceeds from the sale process. According to Fontana, Holcim and Lafarge have received more than 100 expressions of interest from potential buyers of the assets.

"We have had marks of interest from all kinds of prospective buyers," said Fontana. He added that potential buyers include private-equity groups and companies in the cement industry, including some from emerging markets. Holcim and Lafarge could also choose to sell some assets via initial public offerings.