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Holcim and Lafarge finalise LafargeHolcim executive committee and CRH deal
Written by Global Cement staff
27 May 2015
Europe: Lafarge and Holcim have completed the appointments for the future executive committee of LafargeHolcim following a recommendation by Eric Olsen, future CEO of the combined group. The future executive committee, under the leadership of Eric Olsen, is composed of:
- Finance - Thomas Aebischer, currently in charge of finance at Holcim;
- Integration, organisation and human resources - Jean-Jacques Gauthier, currently in charge of finance at Lafarge;
- Europe - Roland Köhler, currently in charge of Europe at Holcim;
- Asia Pacific - Ian Thackwray, currently in charge of East Asia Pacific and trading at Holcim;
- Middle-East Africa - Saâd Sebbar, currently in charge of Morocco at Lafarge;
- North America - Alain Bourguignon, previously in charge of North America and the UK at Holcim;
- Latin America - Pascal Casanova, currently in charge of France at Lafarge;
- Performance and cost - Urs Bleisch, currently in charge of corporate functions at Holcim;
- Growth and innovation - Gérard Kuperfarb, currently in charge of innovation at Lafarge.
Following appropriate information-consultation processes with relevant works councils and employee representatives, Lafarge and Holcim have now entered a binding agreement with CRH regarding the sale of several assets. The assets include operations mainly in Europe, Canada, Brazil and the Philippines with an enterprise value of Euro6.5bn. The divestments remain subject to the completion of the merger including the acceptance of Holcim's public exchange offer by the shareholders of Lafarge. The merger is expected to close in July 2015.
India: Burnpur Cement started trial production from its new grinding plant at Patratu in Jharkhand on 23 May 2015. Full production, including clinker, will start from June 2015 when the clinker line is completed.
India: JK Cement's net profit fell by 8.5% year-on-year to US$10.9m in the fourth quarter of 2015, which ended on 31 Mar 2015. The net profit for the whole 2015 financial year rose by 61.7% year-on-year to US$24.6m.
Egypt: Suez Cement plans to increase its energy intake and its production capacity by 15%, according to Bruno Carrè, the company's managing director in Egypt. He added that the company would not file a request to obtain a new cement licence. Suez Cement will convert two new facilities in 2015, adding to two facilities converted in 2014. "We are investing US$52.4m/yr for four years," said Carrè.
Carlo Pesenti, the CEO of Suez Cement's mother company Italcementi, said that the company is currently focusing on energy source diversification at its Egyptian facilities. Pesenti said that the company "Has capacity to increase the volume of investments in Egypt." It is currently investing US$15.7m to build a wind farm that will be deployed in the next two years.
Arabian Cement’s first quarter profit down 26 May 2015
Egypt: Arabian Cement has reported that in the first three months of 2015, which ended on 31 March 2015, its net profit fell to US$7.52m versus a net profit of US$15.3m a year earlier.