21 October 2014
Aditya Birla Group bids for LafargeHolcim assets 21 October 2014
India: The Aditya Birla Group has submitted bids to purchase global assets being divested from the LafargeHolcim merger. UltraTech and other companies that belong to Birla have put in bids for cement units of Lafarge and Holcim in Brazil and the Philippines at an enterprise value of US$1.4bn. The group had identified Brazil as a major place for expansion three years ago. The Philippines was among the overseas countries where the group started operations several years ago.
Birla is competing with rival cement companies and private equity funds for the units. Germany's HeidelbergCement has teamed up with Votorantim Cimentos of Brazil while Cemex has joined hands with CRH plc. Eurocement is also in the race. Birla's move is part of its overall plan to increase its cement capacity to 70Mt/yr by early 2016 from 63Mt/yr currently.
Over 50% of Birla's revenues come from its overseas operations. According to a consultant involved with the deal, Birla will be unable to bid for LafargeHolcim assets in some of the market, including India, as a purchase will lead to monopoly in those markets.
Semen Indonesia expands to Aceh Province 21 October 2014
Indonesia: Following its plan to build a cement plant in Papua, Semen Indonesia has said it will soon expand to the west and develop another cement plant in Aceh Province to fulfil increasing local demand.
Semen Indonesia finance director Ahyanizzam said that the company was considering developing a cement plant in Aceh, as well as in Sulawesi and Kalimantan, in addition to its plan to set up a plant in Papua. Each of the plants would have up to 3Mt/yr of cement production capacity. The investment would be around US$352m, which would be sourced from bank loans. He added that Semen Indonesia is currently looking for suitable locations for the plants. "We expect to start working on the Aceh project in 2015," said Ahyanizzam.
Semen Indonesia expects cement demand in the province to rise due to the construction of the Trans Sumatra highway, a 2700km toll road project that stretches from Aceh to Lampung in 24 sections, connecting major cities in Sumatra. Four sections of the toll road began construction in October 2014 and are expected to be completed in 16 months, absorbing US$4bn of investment. The four sections are designed to connect Medan to Binjai in North Sumatra, Pekanbaru to Dumai in Riau, Bakauheni to Bandar Lampung in Lampung and Palembang to Indralaya in South Sumatra.
Ahyanizzam added that the planned cement plants were also projected to help Semen Indonesia cope with rising cement demand from across the country. Demand is expected to grow by 4% in 2014 and by 6% in 2015.
Semen Indonesia produces 31.8Mt/yr of cement and has a 44% share of the country's cement market. The company plans to boost its cement production to 39.3Mt/yr by 2016 and to 40.8Mt/yr by 2017 with the help of its new plants.
New line for Al Sawfa Cement from ThyssenKrupp 21 October 2014
Saudi Arabia: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received an order from Al Sawfa Cement Company, Saudi Arabia, to build a complete cement production line. The order is worth around Euro100m and commissioning is planned for 2016. The new 5300/day clinker production plant will be constructed parallel to the existing line in Jabal Farasan, approximately 150km north-east of Jeddah. The existing line, also supplied by ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, has been in operation since 2009.
The main components are a 1700t/hr crushing facility, 40,000t of additive storage, a blending bed, a 390t/hr raw material grinding plant with ball mill and a POLYSIUS SEPOL separator and a 15,000t blending silo for raw meal.
The Polysius kiln line will consist of a five-stage preheater with PREPOL AS-CC, the POLRO rotary kiln and a POLYTRACK cooler with intermediate crusher. Cement grinding will take place in two ball mills with SEPOL high-efficiency separators. The plant will be rounded off with a 6000t cement silo as well as cement packing and loading facilities.
Lothar Jungemann, CEO of the Cement operating unit of the Process Technologies business unit of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, said, "This follow-up order shows that we are a reliable partner to our customers. With our leading technology and strong service focus, we support cement producers worldwide with their efforts to further expand capacities and increase operating efficiency."