21 December 2017
Dalmia Bharat to acquire bankrupt Murli Industries 21 December 2017
India: Dalmia Bharat is set to acquire Murli Industries, a Nagpur based cement manufacturer, by investing US$62.4m. Murli owns a 3Mt/yr integrated cement plant. As per the resolution plan, Dalmia Bharat will cancel most of the equity of Murli Industries and pay its lenders US$54.6m. This is 80% below what Murli owes the banks.
Murli had a loan of US$140m but the amount it owes is US$265m after interest and penalties. However, since the lending banks have already either written off the loan or have sold it to asset reconstruction companies, the relatively low value of the rescue deal from Dalmia Bharat does not affect them.
Spanish consumption best for five years but exports fall 21 December 2017
Spain: Cement consumption is expected to have risen by 10% year-on-year to 12.3Mt in Spain during 2017. This represents the highest consumption by the sector since 2012. It is still massively down on the 25Mt/yr consumption seen during the building boom experienced by the country prior to the economic downturn.
Exports, which had been a ‘lifesaver’ for the sector during the crisis, fell by 7.6% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2017 to 5.8Mt. Spain exported 9.1Mt of cement in 2016.
Cementos Cosmos asks to burn tyres 21 December 2017
Spain: Cementos Cosmos has stated its intention to ask the Castilla León Board for permission to burn tyres in the kiln at its plant in Oral Sarriana. The move has already been met with resistance from the local Bierzo Aire Limpio platform, which has raised concerns about the effects of tyre burning on the local agricultural sector as well as ‘the alarming rates of contamination, cancer and premature deaths in a region closed in by mountains.’
This is despite the plant already having permission to burn paper and plastic waste. The increase in alternative fuels, ideally up to a 70% thermal substitution rate, is intended to reduce the plant’s dependence on fossil fuels.