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Sofiane Benmaghnia to be appointed CEO of Holcim Romania
Written by Global Cement staff
10 February 2016
Romania: Sofiane Benmaghnia has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Holcim Romania effective from 1 April 2016. He will replace François Petry, who has became the CEO of Aggregates Industries, the LafargeHolcim subsidiary in the UK, in December 2015.
Benmaghnia, aged 39 years, has been the general manager of Meftah Cement Operations, Aggregates & Concrete in Algeria since 2011. Previously, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Lafarge Betoane si Agregate in the Middle East for three years. He joined LafargeHolcim group in 1999 as financial analyst.
Beat Hess nominated as chairman of LafargeHolcim
Written by Global Cement staff
10 February 2016
Switzerland: The LafargeHolcim Board of Directors has decided to propose Beat Hess as its new Chairman to its shareholders. The decision follows the announcement that the current chairman, Wolfgang Reitzle, has informed the Board that he will not stand for re-election at the Company’s May 2016 Annual General Meeting.
Reitzle cited other business commitments for his decision, including the Chairmanship of the Linde Supervisory Board. He was a key part of the successful merger between Lafarge and Holcim in 2015.
Hess, a Swiss national born in 1949, is currently Vice-Chairman of the Board, a Member of the Strategy & Sustainable Development Committee and a Member of the Finance & Audit Committee. He was elected to the Board of Directors of then Holcim in 2010. From 1977 to 2003, he was legal counsel and later General Counsel of the ABB Group. From 2004 until the end of 2010, he was Legal Director and a member of the Executive Committee of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, London and The Hague. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Nestlé S.A. and of Sonova Holding AG.
Martin Kriegner to be appointed head of India for LafargeHolcim
Written by Global Cement staff
10 February 2016
India: Martin Kriegner will be appointed Head of India for LafargeHolcim, effective on 1 March 2016. He will report to Eric Olsen, Group CEO and succeed Bernard Terver who has decided to retire. Kriegner is currently the Area Manager Central Europe,
Kriegner, an Austrian national, joined LafargeHolcim in 1990 and has previously held several senior leadership positions in the Group, including CFO and CEO of the Group operations in Austria as well as Head of Lafarge India and Regional President Cement for Asia. He graduated from Vienna University with a Doctorate in Law and obtained an MBA at the University of Economics in Vienna.
Bernard Terver joined the Group in 1994 and became member of the Senior Management in 2012. He was responsible for Ambuja Cements and ACC in India since 2014 and was appointed Head of India at LafargeHolcim following the merger.
FLSmidth signs Euro200m contract to supply cement plant in Algeria 09 February 2016
Algeria/Denmark: FLSmidth has signed a Euro200m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with SARL Amouda Engineering for the supply of a greenfield cement plant. The plant will be located in El Beida, Laghouat.
The order includes engineering, equipment supplies, construction, commissioning and training. Once completed, the cement plant will have a capacity of 6000t/day.
"EPC solutions are increasingly requested by the industry and we are very happy that SARL Amouda Engineering chose FLSmidth as the preferred supplier based on a very close collaboration and our extensive knowledge of the region,” said Group Executive Vice President of the Cement Division Per Mejnert Kristensen.
Production resumes at JK Cement plant in Baglakot 09 February 2016
India: Production has resumed at the 3Mt/yr JK Cement plant in Baglakot, Karnataka. It was temporality stopped following the sudden caving-in of the clinker silo roof in January 2016.
"Production of clinker and cement has resumed with operation of the kiln by making an alternate arrangement using two belts conveyors for feeding the clinker directly to the cement mill," said the company in a statement.
While production was suspended the company has been supplying the market using supplies at its depots. Normal levels of production are expected to be achieved by late February 2016. The clinker silo is expected to be repaired within six months.