19 September 2014
Oetelshofen Kalk considers a lime plant with Geoinženjering 19 September 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Oetelshofen Kalk, a family-owned company with a 114-year-long tradition in the production of lime in Germany, is considering acting as a strategic partner to open a lime plant with Geoinženjering in Tuzla Canton. The first stage of investment involves the production of aggregates and drawing up plans to build a lime plant. Prime minister Bahrija Umihanić said that the government of Tuzla Canton was available to all investors, especially those who have long-term plans and create new jobs for the citizens of Tuzla Canton.
Bruno Roux appointed president and CEO for Lafarge Eastern Canada 19 September 2014
Canada: Bruno Roux has been appointed president and CEO for the Eastern Canada business unit of Lafarge Canada. His appointment is effective from 15 September 2014 and he succeeds Bob Cartmel. Cartmel will remain with the Lafarge Group, assisting with the LafargeHolcim merger.
In his new role, Roux will serve as Lafarge's senior leader for all market areas and product lines in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Roux will also join the Board of Directors of Lafarge Canada. Roux's responsibilities include all operational, sales, marketing and functional elements of the cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete product lines. He will lead these teams from the Eastern Canada head office in Toronto.
"I am very excited for the opportunity to lead an extremely talented team in Eastern Canada," said Roux. "I am looking forward to working with our customers, architects and other stakeholders in achieving our ambition of building better cities."
Roux most recently held the position of president and CEO of Lafarge's operations in Poland. A native of France, Roux is a graduate of l'École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers.
Fomento de Construcciones & Contratas to transfer rescue funds to Portland Valderrivas 19 September 2014
Spain: Spanish builder Fomento de Construcciones & Contratas SA (FCC) is to help its cement unit Cementos Portland Valderrivas make a debt payment by transferring rescue funds, according to Bloomberg. FCC has reportedly received approval to creditors to transfer Euro20m to Cementos Portland Valderrivas, which owes lenders Euro50m on 30 September 2014. Meeting the payment deadline will buy Cementos Portland Valderrivas more time to restructure about Euro1Bn of loans with creditors.
Zambian minister accuses Dangote Cement of bribery 19 September 2014
Zambia: A Zambian government minister, Fackson Shamenda, has accused a Dangote Industries Zambia (DIZ) executive of attempting to bribe him, according to local media. DIZ has described the allegations as 'malicious misinformation.' DIZ has 400 workers building a US$400m cement plant in Zambia. The staff count should rise to 2000 when production starts in November 2014.
"For the record, DIZ categorically deny any claims of corruption and bribery and reserve our rights on this matter," said DIZ in a statement. Shamenda did not specify what was offered by the executive and said that he had rejected it because he had critical labour issues to sort out with DIZ and did not want to be compromised.
"He told me that it was a tradition in their culture to give someone a token of appreciation. Maybe his idea was that I turn a blind eye to what is happening at Dangote," said Shamenda, according to local media reports.
Shamenda also said that DIZ should offer workers at the company permanent employment and allow them to join unions. "There is no union and according to the reports I have received, those who have attempted to join unions have had their contracts terminated.
I have asked the labour commissioner to investigate and tell me all the categories of employees, because the reports we have received indicate there are no permanent employees."
DIZ said in its statement that Shamenda had made four surprise visits to the cement plant in the last four months, prompting the company to complain about his conduct as it felt that the minister was deliberately looking for wrongdoing. "DIZ was beginning to feel harassed and unwelcome in Zambia and immediately brought this to the attention of the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry," said DIZ in a statement.
Holcim and Lafarge enter talks with EU to expedite merger 19 September 2014
Europe: Holcim and Lafarge are holding talks with the European Union (EU) in a bid to obtain fasterapproval of their merger plan. Holcim and Lafarge plan to iron out possible EU concerns over the merged company's market power before filing for approval of the deal, the step that starts the EU's review.
Addressing EU issues at an early stage may allow regulators to approve the deal without opening an in-depth probe, which could add about four months to the process. The companies announced a wave of divestments in July 2014 in an attempt to ward off regulatory obstacles. Planned sales are weighted toward Europe, cutting exposure of both companies to the slower-growing region. European plants earmarked for divestment include sites in Austria, France, Germany and Romania. Under the EU's merger-review process, most deals are cleared at the first hurdle.