Displaying items by tag: Cemex
Cemex supplies concrete for Khalifa Port
14 January 2022UAE: Cemex has supplied 400,000m3 of advanced semi-dry heavy-duty concrete to Abu Dhabi Ports Group’s Khalifa Port. Cemex said that the concrete’s composition maximises its lifespan, increasing sustainability.
Mexico: Cemex’s total dispatches of its Vertua reduced-CO2 concrete in Mexico reached 284,000t in 2021. After launching the product in its home country on 8 December 2020, the company supplied it to 3820 sites throughout 2021. Cemex says that it enters 2022 with 1580 orders outstanding.
Oman: The German University of Technology in Oman (GUTech) has 3D printed a 190m2 house in Halban, Al Batinah South governorate, using conventional concrete. Trade Arabia News has reported that the structure is the world’s largest 3D printed building. GUTech applied Denmark-based Cobod’s D.fab product to print the building using Mexico-based Cemex’s concrete in five days.
Cementos Progreso grows in Central America
05 January 2022We start 2022 with the news that Cemex is selling up to Cementos Progreso in Costa Rica and El Salvador. On 20 December 2021 Cemex announced that it was selling one integrated cement plant, one grinding plant, seven ready-mix concrete plants, one aggregate quarry and one terminal in Costa Rica and one terminal in El Salvador. The sale is valued at around US$335m with an expected completion date in the first half of 2022 subject to regulatory approval.
This sale is noteworthy because it concerns Mexico-based Cemex selling off assets in its ‘back yard’ of Central America. Once the sale completes it will retain operations in Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Colombia under its Cemex LatAm subsidiary. It will also continue to operate in the Caribbean in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Previous divestments by Cemex over the last five years or so have tended to focus on piecemeal (or bolt-off) divestments in the US and Europe. This latest sale could be viewed in a similar way if Central America and the Caribbean are seen as a region rather than individual countries. For its part Cemex describes the divestment as part of its ‘Operation Resilience’ plan to optimise its global portfolio.
Why it chose to sell up in Costa Rica is curious given that Cemex LatAm’s cement sales volumes for the region were reported as ‘flat’ in 2019 with the exception of Colombia and El Salvador. 2020 was then a shock, like almost everywhere else, as coronavirus caused disruption reducing sales volumes. 2021 saw recovery in all of Cemex LatAm’s national markets over the first nine months. Notably, both Cemex’s revenue and operational earnings in Costa Rica grew when comparing the first nine months of 2019, before the pandemic, to the same period in 2021, unlike Colombia and Panama. For the third quarter of 2021 Cemex said that growing cement sales volumes in Costa Rica had been driven by infrastructure and housing sectors. It also added that “Our cement footprint in the country is also a very relevant component of our regional trading network. We continued exporting during the quarter, mainly to our operations in Nicaragua.” In may be coincidence but it was interesting timing to add a comment like that.
From Cementos Progreso’s perspective the new assets in Costa Rica and El Salvador are part of an ongoing expansion phase outside of its home base. At home in Guatemala the company operates three integrated plants. The third, the San Gabriel plant, started up in 2019. In the same year the company purchased Cemento Interoceanico and its grinding plant in Panama. Then in July 2021 the group commissioned its new Belmopan grinding plant in Belize as part of its Cementos Rocafuerte subsidiary. The new proposed acquisitions in Costa Rica and El Salvador start to fill in the gaps in Cementos Progreso’s network between Guatemala and Panama. The price seems on the high side for a 0.9Mt/yr integrated plant and a 0.9Mt/yr grinding unit. Yet the associated quarry, concrete plants, terminals and, crucially, the location may have made it one well worth paying. For comparison Peru-based Unacem agreed to purchase a grinding plant from CBB in Chile this week for around US$30m. Back in 2013 Lafarge sold assets in Honduras, including an integrated plant and a grinding unit, to Cementos Argos for Euro232m.
Both parties may do well out of this transaction. Cemex continues to show that it is fully prepared to sell assets anywhere as it sharpens up its operations. Cementos Progreso meanwhile is turning itself into a regional player to watch.
Costa Rica/El Salvador: Cementos Progreso has agreed to acquire Cemex’s Costa Rican and El Salvadorian assets for US$335m. The divested assets consist of an integrated cement plant, a cement grinding plant, seven ready-mix concrete plants, an aggregate quarry and one terminal in Costa Rica. An additional terminal is also being sold in El Salvador. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022 subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities.
Cemex’s chief executive officer (CEO) Fernando Gonzalez said “This transaction allows us to progress in our portfolio rebalancing objectives, while redeploying resources to fund our growth investments and further deleveraging.”
Cemex’s APO Cement plant reported as operational following typhoon
23 December 2021Philippines: Cemex says that its integrated APO Cement plant in Naga City, Cebu is operational following Typhoon Odette. It reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the site had suffered property damage but that key production equipment had not sustained major damage. However, it has scaled back product dispatch due to infrastructure and logistical challenges caused by the aftermath of the typhoon. It also offered its thoughts to “those adversely affected by the storm and said that, “The safety and well-being of employees, contractors and communities are an immediate concern.
Cemex signs service deal with HCL Technologies
22 December 2021Mexico: Cemex has signed a five-year agreement with India-based HCL Technologies for information technology (IT) services related to employee services, increased automation and analytics. HCL will work on IT managed services, infrastructure and application services and end-user support. It will also collaborate with Neoris, a subsidiary of Cemex, on customer services and supply chain resiliency. HCL will use its DryICE and Software products, along with various other automation products.
“Cemex selected HCL Technologies because we have a vision of working smarter to cater to the global company’s fast-growing operations,” said Fausto Sosa, vice president of Information Technology of Cemex.
Mexico: Cemex has joined the United Nations (UN) Global Compact’s Chief CFO Taskforce for the Sustainable Development Goals. The taskforce engages global chief finance officers (CFOs) in integrating the UN’s 10 sustainable development goals (SDG) into strategy, financing and investor relations in order to create a broad sustainable finance market. Its aims include providing the global development community with a modern view of how capital markets can contribute to financing the SDGs at scale, developing innovative financial instruments and contributing to a broad market of diversified investment opportunities, supporting companies in securing financial capital to transform their business and production models, connecting companies’ SDG investments with increasingly impact-orientated investors, developing internal tools and resources to embed sustainability in corporate finance, promoting partnerships between chief executive officers and CFOs and helping to translate sustainability strategies into financial language for investors and rating agencies.
Cemex’s CFO Maher Al-Haffar said “Climate change is perhaps the biggest challenge of our times, affecting lives and disrupting economies. Only by aligning our financial and climate action strategies will we be able to overcome this challenge.” He added “At Cemex, we share the beliefs embodied in the CFO principles and are honoured to join the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce for the SDGs, through which we will actively contribute to the innovation of corporate finance that will enable the building of a more resilient future for all.”
Mexico/Denmark: Cemex and 3D printing construction company Cobod International have launched D.fab, a range of admixtures which enable builders to use ordinary concrete in 3D printing. The partners say that the products eliminate the need for expensive specialised mortars. Power2Build implemented the admixtures in concrete to print a whole house in Luanda, Angola, in early December 2021.
Cemex’s executive vice president sustainability, commercial and operations development Juan Romero said “The introduction of this revolutionary 3D printing system is a testament to our customer-centric mindset and relentless focus on continuous innovation and improvement. Working together with Cobod, we have developed an experience for customers that is superior to anything that has been provided in the past,” said “Our innovation efforts position us at the forefront of new technologies that contribute to building a better future.”
Cemex and Carbon8 Systems partner for carbon capture research
10 December 2021Mexico/UK: Cemex has partnered with UK-based carbon capture equipment supplier Carbon8 Systems to evaluate possible uses of the supplier’s Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) in the group’s cement production. Operators can use the equipment to produce carbon-infused sustainable materials from thermal residues. Cemex says that one possible application will be in the production of supplementary cementitious materials. Under the partnership, Carbon8 Systems will evaluate a range of Cemex’s byproducts for possible use, beginning at its Rüdersdorf cement plant in Germany and Rugby cement plant in the UK. It will also evaluate the suitability of alternative lightweight aggregates produced using ACT for sale in each market.
Executive vice president sustainability, commercial, and operations development Juan Romero said "This initiative with Carbon8 Systems is another example of the work we are doing with partners across industries, academia, and startups to tap into the latest innovation and disruptive technologies to achieve our ambition of delivering net-zero CO2 concrete globally to all of our customers."