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Adelaide Brighton eyes Penrice buyout 17 June 2014
Australia: Adelaide Brighton is among groups conducting due diligence on a limestone and marble quarry that is being sold off by the administrators of the failed Penrice Soda, which collapsed in April 2014 with debts greater than US$150m.
Adelaide Brighton is a major customer of the quarry near Angaston, South Australia, which is one of two assets up for sale. It runs a cement plant on the outskirts of Angaston, close to the Penrice quarry.
Adelaide Brighton is believed to be among shortlisted bidders for the quarry, which is attracting most of the interest in the asset sell-off. Final and binding bids are understood to be due by 25 June 2014 under agreements struck between the administrator and shortlisted bidders, who have asked for more time.
Adelaide Brighton has a strong balance sheet and a new chief executive, Martin Brydon, who took over from Mark Chellew in May 2014. The company may be able to pick up the asset at a modest multiple given that it is a forced sale by the administrators.
Penrice's Quarry and Mineral division has been heavily restructured and produced underlying earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$1.4m in 2012 - 2013 and EBITDA of US$3.9m in 2011 - 2012.
Loesche wins training and management prize 16 June 2014
Germany: Loesche GmbH has won the Deutscher Bildungspreis 2014 in the category 'Production: small and medium-sized enterprises,' for its training and management programmes. It beat 120 other companies to the award, which was awarded at a ceremonial event at the historic Munich Künstlerhaus on 12 May 2014.
The Deutscher Bildungspreis is presented annually by TÜV Süd Academy and EuPD Research Sustainable Management under the motto 'Learning from the best.' In four sector categories, companies are awarded for best education and talent management under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
"Loesche owes this success to the instruments of the demand-oriented personnel development introduced in 2008 as well as the close cooperation with the Loesche Training Center and the benefits for the staff associated with this," said Christian Trzeczak from Loesche's Corporate Human Resources department. "This result will further consolidate the employer brand Loesche and shows that we are on the right track towards a productive personnel development in the company."
Australia: After being mothballed in 2012, the disused Hydro Aluminium plant on Kooragang Island could soon be operational again. The site is set to be reincarnated as a cement-mixing plant. Vue Australia has lodged a US$3m plan with Newcastle council to change the site's use from an aluminium transfer, storage and dispatch facility to a cement storage and transfer plant.
Under the plan, Vue will transfer, store and dispatch an estimated 300,000t/yr of Portland cement, utilising the site's existing three large silos and overhead conveyor. Much of Vue's US$3m investment will be spent on installing dust-control measures, particularly in truck-loading areas.
Vue is also seeking approval to operate 24hr/day, every day, because it needs to do so when a ship arrives with raw materials to unload. "This is expected to occur some 16 times a year," said a company spokesperson. The conveyor to the silos would carry raw products delivered by ship. The cement products would be dispatched via road tankers to customers.
Dust-emission reports and environmental reports have been submitted. An environmental impact statement concluded that potential environmental impacts associated with the upgrade are negligible and could be managed through the implementation of the mitigation measures identified by the study.
Vue said that it hopes to have the new cement plant operating within months. While the project would only create a small amount of jobs, the company said that it would help to diversify the port's industry, put mothballed infrastructure to work and 'increase competition within the New South Wales cement market and related construction industry.'
BASF and Lafarge to set up a joint venture in Iraq 16 June 2014
Iraq: BASF has entered into a joint venture with Lafarge to set up a new plant for the production and marketing of construction chemicals in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan. BASF said that the new production site would mainly produce concrete admixtures and cement additives and that the products would be offered to the local market.
For BASF, the joint venture offers the opportunity to further tap into Iraq's growth market with a partner that is already well-established in the region. "This initiative clearly represents BASF's interest and commitment to the Middle East," said Dick Purchase, the head of BASF Construction Chemicals division in the Middle East, West Asia, CIS and Africa. "With this joint venture we are fulfilling our Master Builders Solutions promise of connectedness by being closer to our clients, providing our innovative and sustainable solutions and creating new job opportunities in the region," he added. Under the Master Builders Solutions brand, BASF bundles its advanced chemical solutions for new construction, maintenance, repair and renovation of structures.
Dangote Cement launches attack on ‘re-baggers’ 16 June 2014
Nigeria: In a bid to tackle 're-bagging,' which is one of the biggest threats in the cement industry in Nigeria, Dangote Cement has launched an all-out attack on perpetrators.
In the cement industry 're-bagging' refers to the emptying of the original cement bag and refilling with a different adulterated product or commodity. Another common method is to buy cement from shops, grind it, mix it with sand and then put the adulterated commodity into a bag belonging to a reputable cement manufacturer.
Often cement makers end up bearing the brunt of customer dissatisfaction, as they believe the product is from the original source. In the case of damage associated with the product, consumers often attribute it to the firm whose bag has been used for the product.
"There are different forms of what these people are doing," said Devakumar V G Edwin, Dangote's managing director and CEO. "We have an extensive team that is spearheaded by a former police commissioner exclusively on this." According to Edwin, his team is working hard to halt bag thefts by cement plant workers, which facilitate the re-bagging business.
"We have even heard people say that they sell Dangote Cement for US$5.52 – 6.13/bag," said Edwin. "What happens is that our customers often call us and inform us of the situation. Sometimes, they tell us that we are cheating them because of the price someone tells them elsewhere. Once we get the information, we launch into action."