16 September 2014
HeidelbergCement’s Hanson Building Products files for IPO 16 September 2014
UK/US: Hanson Building Products Ltd, which is owned by HeidelbergCement AG, filed with US regulators for an initial public offering of ordinary shares. BofA Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank Securities are underwriting the IPO, Hanson told the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus on 15 September 2014.
HeidelbergCement agreed to buy Hanson plc, which includes Hanson Building, for Euro10Bn in 2007 to create the world's second-largest construction materials company. Hanson Building produces concrete gravity pipe, concrete and steel pressure pipe and clay bricks in the US, eastern Canada and the UK. However, HeidelbergCement has been aiming to offload its US and UK building products business in 2014 to have the best chance of buying cement assets that Lafarge and Holcim must sell when they merge, according to Reuters.
Hanson Building's filing included a nominal fundraising target of about Euro77.3m. The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price. Hanson Building intends to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange but did not specify the symbol. HeidelbergCement, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the German cement manufacturer, is selling all the shares in the offering and Hanson Building will not receive any of the proceeds.
Hanson Building reported net income of Euro11.5m for the first six months of 2014, compared with a loss of Euro195m during the same period of 2013. Net sales, however, dropped by 47% year-on-year to Euro462m.
PPC buys other half of fly ash producer Pronto 16 September 2014
South Africa: PPC has acquired the remaining 50% stake in Gauteng Province's ready-mix concrete and fly ash-supplier, Pronto Holdings, which it did not already own. Bheki Sibiya, PPC's chairman, said that it had paid a total of US$41.9m for 100% of Pronto.
eRex to Invest US$164m in biomass power plant at Taiheyo Cement 16 September 2014
Japan: eRex Inc, a power generation company, has agreed to invest US$159m in a biomass power project situated in the premises of Taiheyo Cement plant in Oita Prefecture, Japan. The total installed capacity of the power plant will be 50MW, sufficient to supply 100,000 households. The investment/MW will be US$3.18m. The power plant will use palm shells, a by-product of palm oil production in Indonesia and elsewhere, as its primary fuel. The company will set up a separate storage facility in Oita to hold 100,000t of palm shells. The power plant is expected to be operational in 2016.
Lafarge sells Russian cement plant to Buzzi Unicem to cut debt 16 September 2014
Russia: Lafarge SA has sold one of its Russian cement plants to Buzzi Unicem as part of its effort to cut debt. The Ural Cement plant in Korinko, Chelyabisnk was sold for Euro104m. Lafarge aims to reduce its debt to below Euro9bn from Euro11.2bn. The plant sale requires regulatory approval.
Cementos Argos to boost Colombian capacity with new 2.3Mt/yr line 16 September 2014
Colombia: Cementos Argos plans to expand its Sogamoso cement plant, located in the Boyacá department of Colombia, with a new 2.3Mt/yr line, involving an investment of US$450m.
The strategic location of the Sogamoso plant will enable Cementos Argos to serve the Bogota market as well as growing demand in the centre of Colombia, where around 70% of cement consumption for the country's infrastructure plant will be concentrated. As well as Bogota, the location of the plant allows for efficient access to the Eastern Plains, Santander and North Santander.
"This investment reflects our confidence and commitment to the development of Colombia," said Jorge Mario Velásquez, Argos' CEO. "Factors such as institutional and regulatory strengthening for infrastructure development; the important 4G projects for more than US$25Bn and greater resources for housing development, will drive the growth in cement consumption in the next few years. As a Colombian company, we are committed to assisting the country in its development."
The new project will boost Argos' installed capacity in Colombia from 9.5Mt/yr to 11.8Mt/yr, an increase of 24%. Completion of the Sogamoso expansion is scheduled for 2018. Argos said that up to 40% of fossil fuels would be replaced with alternative fuels. Water and fuel consumption will be 24% and 18% lower than at standard plants, respectively, while emissions of particulate matter will be 67% below the national limit. Cementos Argos will also invest in developing the local community's educational infrastructure.
"The intensive infrastructure programmes carried out in neighbouring countries such as Panama, Peru and Ecuador, have propelled the simultaneous decrease in unemployment rates and upsurge in home construction, creating a virtuous cycle to improve people's quality of life, which we wish to see in Colombia," added Velásquez.