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Chinese firm keen to invest in Andhra Pradesh 13 April 2015
India/China: China's Sinoma International Engineering Co Ltd is keen to invest in cement and wind energy projects in Andhra Pradesh. Song Shoushan, Sinoma's chairman, told the delegation that it sees India as a potential market for the cement industry and that Sinoma sees Andhra Pradesh as a potential state for their biggest manufacturing facility in India.
Ireland: CRH is paying Euro700m 'over the odds' for a Euro6.5bn acquisition that would make it the world's third-biggest building materials supplier, according to a report from US-based AllianceBernstein (AB), a global asset management company.
CRH has agreed to buy a number of mostly European assets from Lafarge and Holcim for Euro6.5bn so the merging companies can get competition clearance for their plan to create the cement industry's biggest company. However, AB has raised doubts about the value of the deal for CRH. The move was also was overwhelmingly approved by shareholders at a recent extraordinary general meeting.
In a detailed report into the deal, AB said that the move represented "A step in the wrong direction for CRH. The acquisition price of Euro6.5bn is 12% above our Euro5.8bn estimate of the fair value of the assets."
Nicaragua: Cement companies Holcim and Cemex are increasing their investments in Nicaragua in preparation to supply the volumes required by the country over the coming years.
Holcim Nicaragua has inaugurated a US$10m project that will increase production by 30% and exceed 400,000t/yr. The business now has a new dynamic separator at its plant in Nagarote that will increase production through a more efficient use of raw materials and energy resources. It has also announced a second expansion phase, involving a US$6m investment to increase production by another 30%. The company, which has a 47% stake in the national cement market has ensured that it has sufficient reserves to produce the same volume of cement for 50 years.
Similarly, Cemex Nicaragua is building a US$55m plant in Ciudad Sandino in order to increase its annual production from 440,000t/yr to 800,000t/yr from 2017.
Essroc cement plant fire in Nazareth deemed accidental 13 April 2015
US: A series of scattered fires that erupted on 11 April 2015 at Essroc Cement in Nazareth, Pennsylvania have been deemed accidental by the Vigilance Hose Co.
The initial fire began shortly after 16:00 on an underground conveyor belt that transports stone from Essroc's plant II to plant I in Nazareth, said fire chief Danny Keenhold. He said an unidentified malfunction on the belt caused the fire, which began underground. The fire then ignited a separate above-ground portion of the conveyor belt. It took firefighters from seven different agencies about two hours to extinguish the fire from both ends.
There were no reported injuries to Essroc crews or firefighters. The conveyor belt will now need to be repaired. Keenhold said that in the interim trucks will transport stone between the plants.
Mumbai Port Trust allots land for cement terminal 10 April 2015
India: The Mumbai Port Trust has allocated allotted 25,000m2 of land at Petroleum Godown to UltraTech Cement for 30 years, from which cement can be shipped in from other states and distributed to users across the city, according to trust chairman and managing director Ravi Parmar.
The land will be used to build a fully-automated cement handling terminal devoid of air pollution. In 18 months, when the terminal will be completed, it will engage in the transport of cement required for Mumbai's consumption via the coastal route. The estimated cost of the development of the facility, duly equipped with portable unloaders, 30,000t silos, bagging facilities and other ancillary facilities is about US$16.1m.
Mumbai city consumes approximately 1.25Mt/yr of cement. Currently, this cement is moved by road and rail through neighbouring states, necessitating the entry and exit of nearly 350 trucks per day, congesting the already strained city roads.