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New leadership proposed for LafargeHolcim
Written by Global Cement staff
09 April 2014
Worldwide: Lafarge and Holcim have released plans regarding who will lead their proposed merger, LafargeHolcim. The chairman of the new board will be Wolfgang Reitzle, the future chairman of Holcim. Bruno Lafont, chairman and CEO of Lafarge will become CEO of the new group and member of the board.
Thomas Aebischer, Holcim's CFO will become CFO of the new group. Jean-Jacques Gauthier, Lafarge's CFO will become chief integration officer of the new group. The Executive Committee will be formed from both Lafarge and Holcim management.
In order to ensure efficient execution of the merger, an integration committee will prepare the integration plan to be implemented straight after the closing of the transaction. Bernard Fontana, Holcim's existing CEO will remain in charge of Holcim until completion of the transaction. He will co-chair the integration committee.
The merger is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015 subject to shareholder approval and regulatory approval in the many countries that the two multinational building materials producers operate in.
India: Energy management firm Schneider Electric has entered into a strategic partnership with industrial software developer Ramco Systems. The partnership will see Ramco's process optimisation software, OPTIMA, become a part of Schneider Electric's solutions for the cement industry. The partnership is intended to offer cement producers products that optimise production processes by reducing energy and emissions focusing on kiln and mill operation.
"The combined offer of process control, expert system and energy management allows the deployment of a unique optimisation strategy. This strategy will ensure optimum consumption of resources, best use of assets, maintain quality of product and stabilise processes while building an environmentally-sustainable business," said Mining, Minerals and Metals Solution President, Schneider Electric, Diego Areces.
OPTIMA is an process optimisation solution that has been designed to improve plant productivity and efficiency and leverages technologies like fuzzy logic, regression analysis and artificial intelligence techniques.
Lucky Cement opens grinding plant in Iraq 09 April 2014
Iraq: Lucky Cement has started production at a cement grinding plant in Basra, southern Iraq. The US$40m plant is a joint venture between Pakistan-based Lucky Cement and the Al-Shawy family. It has a production capacity of 3000t/day or 0.8Mt/yr. The plant is intended to supply cement for the southern Iraq market.
In comments reported by Mena Report Lucky Cement CEO Muhammad Ali Tabba said that the completed grinding plant is the first phase of development at the site. Lucky Cement may continue development at the plant investing US$125m to build an integrated cement production line with a capacity of 1.25Mt/yr.
Tabba added that Lucky Cement is also working on building a US$240m plant in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It has a 50-50 agreement with the Rawji Group, a local company, to start production via a company called Nyumba Ya Akiba. When operational, the plant in DRC will produce 1.2Mt/yr of cement.
Pakistan: DG Khan Cement is planning to start building a new cement plant at Hub, Balochistan in 2015, according to a company official. The plant will have a production capacity of 2 – 2.5Mt/yr and the project will cost US$250m. The plant will become operation by the end of 2017.
"At present, we are in the phase of finalising vendors for the construction site. In the next phase, we will open letter of credit," the official said.
DG Khan Cement is forecasting development in Balochistan and Sindh and it also hopes to increase movement of its products between provinces in Pakistan. Dispatching cement from the proposed Hub plant will incur lower freight charges compared to transporting cement from DG Khan's existing plants in Punjab.
BUA Cement signs with Nigerian Gas Company 09 April 2014
Nigeria: BUA Cement has signed a gas sales and purchase agreement with the Nigerian Gas Company for its subsidiary, the Edo Cement Company. The agreement is for the supply of about 0.9Mm3/day to the Edo cement plant in Okpella, according to managing director Saidu Mohammed.
BUA Group entered the cement industry in 2008 when the Federal Government of Nigeria issued cement import licenses to 13 companies, including BUA, in an effort to bring down its price locally. BUA Cement subsequently purchased a floating cement terminal in 2008 for processing and bagging bulk cement. In 2009 BUA acquired controlling stakes in the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (Sokoto Cement) and the Edo Cement Company.