16 December 2014
LSR to sell Slantsy cement plant to Eurocement 16 December 2014
Russia: LSR Group is selling its Slantsy plant in the Leningrad region of Russia to Eurocement Group. The parties have signed a preliminary sales agreement, with Eurocement having obtained approval from Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS).
Control of plant operations is expected to be transferred later in December 2014. LSR said that the deal is part of its strategy to 'focus on projects with the highest returns on invested capital and fast growing real estate development business, thus maximising value for shareholders.' LSR will use most of the proceeds to reduce its debt and make it 100% Ruble-based by the end of 2014.
Guyana’s first integrated cement plant commissioned in Berbice 16 December 2014
Guyana: Caricom Cement Company has commissioned its new US$53.1m cement plant at Everton, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne). The new plant will produce 500,000t/yr of cement, double Guyana's current consumption. The plant, which is the first integrated cement plant in Guyana, employs in excess of 250 persons from Berbice, Georgetown, Essequibo and Suriname.
"Caricom Cement Company has been in operation for the past four years and during that period we were bagging cement under the brand names West Indies Cement and Titan Cement," said Caricom. "The main purpose of the cement plant is to make cement affordable to all Guyanese, taking into consideration the construction boom that our country is undergoing at this time."
The plant was built in three phases and started in August 2010 at the old bauxite plant (Bermine), which was developed in phase one. The first part of the current operations saw a bagging system installed at the Everton plant. Phase two saw a Portland cement plant being added to the system while the machinery was being built for phase three, which commenced in December 2013 with the installation of the new plant. The plant was then upgraded with a kiln and cooling system and its grinding capacity was increased by 50%.
EU approves LafargeHolcim merger 16 December 2014
Europe: The European Commission (EC), the European Union's antitrust authority, has approved the proposed merger of Lafarge and Holcim, subject to asset sales by both companies in regions where their activities overlap. The EC's approval is conditional upon the divestment of Lafarge's businesses in Germany, Romania and the UK. Holcim is required to divest its operations in France, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and the Czech Republic. The proposed transaction concerns assets worth several billion Euros and will create the world's largest cement producer with operations in 90 countries.
"The Commission had concerns that the transaction, as originally notified, would have had a detrimental effect on competition in a significant number of markets in the European Economic Area (EEA)," said the EC. "The commitments offered by the two companies address these concerns."
According to the EC, its assessment found that the merged entity would have faced insufficient competitive pressure from remaining players in many markets. This would have brought a risk of price rises. In order to prevent a negative impact on competition, the companies have committed to divesting most of the operations where their activities overlap. Further, the EC said that Holcim and Lafarge will not be allowed to close the deal until it has approved the buyers of the assets put up for sale.
In April 2014, Holcim and Lafarge announced their plan to combine through an all share merger of equals to create LafargeHolcim, with nearly Euro32bn in sales. The proposed combination would be structured as a public exchange offer initiated by Holcim for all outstanding shares of Lafarge on the basis of a 1 for 1 exchange ratio. The companies also agreed to have equal dividends on a per share basis between announcement and completion. The offer would be subject to Holcim holding at least 2/3rd of the share capital and voting rights of Lafarge.