Displaying items by tag: investor
BBMG Corporation issues US$464m in fixed-rate bonds
07 September 2021China: BBMG has issued US$464m-worth of short-term fixed-rate bonds. China Knowledge Press News has reported that the company says that the bonds were issued at face value. Their maturity date is 25 March 2022.
Israel: Seebo has announced an extended Series B funding round for a total of US$24m. Vertex Ventures is leading the round, in which10D, The Phoenix and Leumi Partners participate. Seebo will use the funding for a further expansion to its global reach, as well as enhancement of its process-based artificial intelligence product.
The company says that its product enables cement producers to identify process-driven inefficiencies in their operations in order to predict and prevent production losses. It can target losses including those involving kiln throughputs, emissions, clinker quality and ammonia usage. General partner Yanai Oron claimed that Seebo is the only supplier providing a productised solution based on artificial intelligence across the full product line.
Nigeria: Dangote Cement has shared plans for the installation of a fifth production line at its 13.3Mt/yr integrated Obajana plant in Obajana, Kogi State, that will raise the plant’s capacity to 16.Mt/yr. Business Day newspaper has reported that the upgrade will be a jointly private and public project aimed at ‘boosting the economy and creating jobs for the unemployed youth,’ with tax reliefs and other incentives available to investors. Dangote Cement executive director Edwin Devakumar said during a visit of the Nigerian Minister of State for Mining and Steel Development Samson Ogar that the company ‘will leverage on the state’s support.’
UK: The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has called on European building materials companies to take steps to fight climate change or face commercial extinction. Recommended changes from its new ‘Investor Expectations of Companies in the Construction Materials Sector’ report have been sent to the heads of LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement, CRH and Saint-Gobain. The report informs investor engagement with other construction material firms on the initiative’s global list of 161 focus companies. Investment bodies in the group represent US$2Tn in assets, assets under management and under advice.
“The cement sector needs to dramatically reduce the contribution it makes to climate change. Delaying or avoiding this challenge is not an option. This is ultimately a business-critical issue for the sector,” said Stephanie Pfeifer, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the IIGCC. “Major economies such as the UK and France are increasingly adopting economy-wide net zero emission targets. The cement sector needs to get ahead of the profound transformation their sector faces by addressing barriers to decarbonisation in the short- to medium-term if companies are to secure their future.”
Key details set out in the ‘Investor Expectations’ report include becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Companies are expected to set short, medium and long-term science-based targets to reach this goal. Building material companies should be public policy transparent and advocate for the Paris Agreement, they should implement a ‘strong’ governance framework assigning specific responsibility for climate change to a board committee or board member and they should provide enhanced corporate disclosure in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
The IIGCC recognised the steps HeidelbergCement in particular has taken in already having committed to meeting key aspects of the investor expectations it has outlined. CRH, LafargeHolcim and Saint-Gobain have been encouraged to follow suit, given the ‘significant’ role they play as European-based multinationals. The group also praised the ambitious targets set by India’s Dalmia Cement to become carbon negative by 2040.
Investors take action over Cimento Tupi’s debts
09 April 2019Brazil: Investors have started legal action over in Cimento Tupi’s defaulted debts and attempts to merge with its parent company Cimento Santo Estevão. The cement producer defaulted in mid-2018 on payments to foreign investors that hold around US$30m in it, according to the Valor Econômico newspaper. It also stopped paying interest on the debts in 2015.
Other creditors are also working to stop Cimento Tupi’s plans to merge with Cimento Santo Estevão because it would raise the company’s debts rather than cut costs. A court in Rio de Janerio rejected one case although others are on-going elsewhere. Separately, the Agricultural Bank of China is also challenging the cement producer over arrears in a loan worth US$18m.
Cimento Tupi operates one integrated plant at Pedra do Sino in Minas Gerais and a grinding plant in Modi das Cruzes in São Paulo. It has a combined cement production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr but it has been producing half of this since around 2015. Its operating revenue remained stable at US$43m for the first nine months of 2018. However, its loss more than trippled year-on-year to US$76m.
Switzerland: LafargeHolcim is expecting its sales growth to slow in 2019 but earnings to grow as its ‘Strategy 2022’ management plan takes shape. Net sales are forecast to grow by up to 6% year-on-year in 2018 yet by only 5% in 2019. However, recurring earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are predicted to rise by up to 5% in 2018 and then by at least 5% in 2019.
“With the recent divestment of our Indonesian operations we reached a major milestone in focusing our portfolio which allowed us to accelerate deleveraging. At the same time we aggressively move forward in Aggregates and Ready-Mix Concrete. These results are strong proof points for our Strategy 2022 and we will continue delivering across all value drivers," said chief executive officer (CEO) Jan Jenisch.
The group has made the forecasts as part of its Capital Markets Day taking place at Bardon Hill near Birmingham, UK.
Russia: The management of Gornozavodskcement is looking for a co-investor to upgrade its cement plant to a dry production method. Previously the company had conducted negotiations with Ireland’s CRH over the upgrade but these have been abandoned, according to Construction and Real Estate Daily News. The cement producer operates a plant near Perm.