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Blackstone Group and Temasek Holdings in competition for minority stake in Wonder Cement 01 November 2018
India: Private equity companies Blackstone Group and Temasek Holdings are holding separate negotiations to buy up to a 20% stake in Wonder Cement for around US$136m. The investment is expected to allow the cement producer to expand its production capacity to 11Mt/yr from 6.75Mt/yr at present, according to the Economic Times newspaper. Wonder Cement, part of the Rajasthan-headquartered RK Group, announced in August 2018 that it was preparing to set up a 2Mt/yr clinker grinding unit in Dhule, Maharashtra.
Ramco Cements’ profit down as fuel costs mount 01 November 2018
India: Ramco Cements’ earnings and profits fell in the six months to the end of September 2018 as fuel and raw material costs rose. Its net profit after tax fell by 26% year-on-year to US$32.6m from US$44.2m in the same period in September 2017. Revenue rose by 15% to US$329m and sales volumes of cement rose by 18% to 50.8Mt. The cement producer said that sales in Kerala had been adversely affected by bad weather in the most recent quarter.
Indocement operating income down so far in 2018 01 November 2018
Indonesia: Indocement’s sales revenue rose by 2% year-on-year to US$713m in the first nine months of 2018 from US$696m in the same period in 2017. However, its operating income fell by nearly a third to US$35m from US$97m. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidlebergCement reported that its cost of sales rose in the reporting period.
Saudi Cement’s sales fall by 5.8% to US$217m so far in 2018 01 November 2018
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement’s sales revenue fell by 5.8% to US$217m in the first nine months of 2018 from US$231m in the same period in 2017. Its net profit after tax decreased by 20% to US$73.5m from US$92.2m. The cement producer has blamed falling sales, rising costs and an increase in Islamic finance charges for its declining profits.
Taiwan Cement heads to Turkey
Written by David Perilli, Global Cement
31 October 2018
The long expected move by a Chinese cement producer outside of East Asia took a step closer this week with the news that Taiwan Cement is negotiating with OYAK Cement over a joint venture in Turkey. Taiwan Cement says it is prepared to invest up to US$1.1bn in the subsidiary that will operate OYAK Cement’s business in Turkey. In its press release Taiwan Cement said, bluntly, that government peak production limits and market saturation in China had forced it to expand internationally.
This isn’t Taiwan Cement’s first flirtation with a Turkish cement producer. Back in June 2018 local press reported that it had signed a memorandum of understanding and a confidentiality clause with Sanko Holding about potential investment. However, the timing is curious this time because almost simultaneously Brazil’s InterCement announced that it was selling its operations in Portugal and Cape Verde to OYAK Cement. This sale alone deserves more attention given that it is the third by a Brazilian producer since September 2018 but that’s a discussion for another week. Back on OYAK Cement, whilst nothing is certain at this stage, a pledge of US$1.1bn from a foreign investor would certainly come in handy helping to raise the money at the Turkish company.
Whoever, if anybody, Taiwan Cement ends up pairing up with, the level of the investment suggests a multi-plant move. Indeed, the suggested OYAK Cement deal involves a 40% share in 13 integrated cement plants in Turkey with a production capacity of around 12Mt/yr or a 16% local market share. This isn’t far off the regular international price of US$200/t for integrated production capacity.
For a Chinese company to choose Turkey is resonant historically because it is towards the western end of the Silk Road. Marco Polo, for example, travelled from Venice to China via the territory of modern-day Turkey. The modern day version, the Belt and Road Initiative, seeks to evoke this trade route as China attempts to expand internationally.
Pertinent to the cement industry, both China and Turkey are both major exporters. Turkey is the bigger exporter by proportion of production, at 10% in 2017. Both countries were in the top five exporters to the US in 2017 with 2Mt from China and 1.4Mt from Turkey. The commonly accepted wisdom is that the Chinese industry faces major hurdles to exporting its overcapacity. Yet its production base is so large, 15 times larger than Turkey’s, that the little clinker and cement it has the infrastructure to export is still significant. It’s interesting that a major Chinese producer seeking to overcome structural and market obstacles to its expansion at home is targeting a major exporting nation. Typically, when a foreign cement producer buys local companies, one strategy is to use the new assets to ‘naturalise’ its clinker imports as ‘local’ product. Given Turkey’s already large export market this seems unlikely in this case.
The highly public nature of Taiwan Cement’s latest attempt to strike it lucky in Turkey smacks of bolstering investor confidence as much as closing the deal. Normally, this kind of thing gets announced once everything has been agreed, possibly bar the regulatory approval. Putting some money up front may make Taiwan Cement seem serious but OYAK Cement also stands to benefit from its acquisition of the former-Cimpor assets in Portugal and Cape Verde, since it gives it a toehold within the European Union (EU). This one could go either way.