Global Cement News

Germany: Michael Lambert has been appointed to the management board of Vecoplan. He has been responsible for the company’s commercial operations since 2014 and is the manager of its European subsidiaries. In this capacity he supports Werner Berens, who has been chief executive officer (CEO) of Vecoplan since 2012 and is in charge of Vecoplan’s divisions and supply chain activities.

Lambert, aged 40 years, has a degree in business administration and has held a number of management positions. In 2008 he assumed the post of commercial director in the Saar-Gummi Group and he became manager of the group’s non-automotive business in 2011. In January 2014 Lambert went to Vecoplan, where he was appointed chief financial officer (CFO).

India: Private equity company True North has purchased a 54% stake in Shree Digvijay for a reported US$17m from Brazil’s Votorantim Cementos. Other companies bought the rest of Votorantim’s 75% share in the business, according to Bloomberg. True North signed a deal to buy the cement producer in late 2018. Shree Digvijay operates an integrated cement plant at Jamnagr in Gujarat.

Pakistan: Maple Leaf Cement has commissioned a new 7300t/day production line at its Iskanderabad plant. The upgrade will increase the unit’s total production to 18,000t/day. The line was supplied by Denmark’s FLSmidth. The total cost of the project was US$184m. Commercial production on the new line is scheduled to start in late April 2019.

Iraq: Pakistan’s Attock Cement has commissioned its new grinding plant in Basra. Civil, mechanical and electrical construction work on the unit was finished in January 2019.

Saudi Arabia: Arabian Cement says that the National Electricity Transmission Company plans to complete an expansion to a high-voltage plant in Rabigh by the third quarter of 2021. The project has been delayed but the cement producer said that this will have no financial impact, according to Mubasher. Arabian Cement originally signed an agreement with the National Electricity Transmission Company to supply electricity to its Rabigh plant in 2015. In November 2018 it said that an upgrade to its cement mills was 80% complete.