August 2025

Canada: Alexandre Rail has been appointed as plant manager of McInnis Cement's Port-Daniel-Gascons plant in Gaspé. Rail brings with him 15 years of experience in heavy industry. He joins the company from ArcelorMittal, where he served as a Steel plant manager for seven years.

"We are pleased with our recruitment of an experienced manager in the heavy industry who shares our values in the areas of health and safety, environment and quality. Rail has proven abilities to mobilise employees," said Christian Gagnon, CEO of McInnis Cement. "Rail's family comes from Gaspé, so he is undoubtedly happy to relocate to that region and eager to contribute its local economic development."

McInnis Cement has also named Mark T Newhart as vice president of Logistics and Distribution and as a member of the company's management team. He will develop an efficient distribution network, with responsibility for transport management and marine terminals. Newhart will report to Jim Braselton, senior vice president of Commerical and Logistics.

"With his 30 years of experience in logistics, which includes 20 years in the cement industry, the addition of Mark to our management team is a major milestone," said Gagnon. "Since our business model is based on marine transportation of our products, Newhart's expertise in transportation and marine terminal management will be beneficial for our organisation."

With Newhart's appointment, McInnis Cement's management team is now complete. It comprises: Christian Gagnon as CEO; André Racine as senior vice president of Corporate Development and Legal Affairs; Jim Braselton as senior vice president of Commercial and Logistics; Gaétan Vézina as senior vice president of Operations; Claude Ferland as CFO; Mark T Newhart as vice president of Logistics and Distribution; Marc Lachapelle as senior director of Human Resources; Maryse Tremblay as director of Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility. McInnis Cement has also announced the relocation of its corporate office in downtown Montreal.

Bangladesh: Sumanta Pandit has been appointed as CEO of Holcim Cement (Bangladesh) Ltd. Pandit joins Holcim Bangladesh from Emirates Cement, a subsidiary of UltraTech India, where he was heading the business in Bangladesh as country manager.

Prior to this, Pandit worked for various multinational cement companies in different management positions. During his long career in the cement industry, Pandit has worked in Switzerland, Oman, Kuwait, Sri Lanka and Sudan. With 22 years of exposure in the industry, he brings with him considerable regional and international experience. He holds an honours degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Mumbai.

China: West China Cement Ltd said that Tian Zhenjun has resigned as CEO and has been replaced by Ma Weiping, who will also take on the role of an executive director. It also said that Low Po Ling has resigned as deputy CEO. Tian and Low both confirmed they have no disagreement with the board.

US: Ash Grove Cement has appointed David Meyer as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Meyer will also serve as vice president of the company. He replaces Randy Vance who was promoted to president and chief operating officer in August 2014. As CFO of Ash Grove, Meyer will direct accounting, treasury, internal audit, tax and information technology functions.

Meyer previously worked as the CFO of Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), a US$13bn dairy cooperative that is the largest privately-owned business in Kansas City. While at DFA, he helped the company divest National Dairy Holdings and acquire a 100% stake in Kemps LLC.

Germany: The Supervisory Board of HeidelbergCement has added the position of a deputy chairman to its managing board. Dr Dominik von Achten, member of the Managing Board in charge of the North America Group area, Group Purchasing and the Competence Center Materials, has been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Managing Board effective from 1 February 2015. At the same time, Dr Bernd Scheifele had his tenure as chairman extended until 2020.

Russian refractory manufacturer Magnezit Group has struck a deal this week with Vamtec to sell product in Brazil. What such a cooperation agreement will actually entail, as ever, remains vague but it is an interesting time for a cement equipment supplier to enter the market. The majority of refractories sales are to the iron and steel industries but cement and lime holds the biggest minority market. Industrial research analysts Roskill placed the cement and lime share at 13% in a recent market report.

Competitor refractory producer RHI placed Magnezit in the same Euro0.5 – 1bn revenue bracket with producers such as a Magnesita, Inerys, Krosaki and Shinagawa. Magnesita is the most relevant company out of that list because it is headquartered in Belo Horizonte in Brazil. It is a global company but some of its major mines and production sites are based in Brazil. In 2013 its revenue grew by 8% to US$937m despite static refractory sales volumes led by falling steel production. In 2013 its refractory revenues came mainly from South America. So far in 2014 it appears to have increased its refractory sales volumes, despite a declining marking in Brazil and South America as a whole, by moving into new markets.

A similar situation has been reported by RHI in the region so far in 2014 with falling steel production hitting refractory revenue. RHI originally planned to build a refractory plant in Rio de Janeiro in 2011 but this was amended in late 2012. In this environment it seems that Magnezit may be testing the market rather than planning a full-scale incursion into Brazil.

For the first half of 2014 the Sindicato Nacional Da Indústria Do Cimento (SNIC) has reported that cement sales were 34.5Mt in Brazil, a rise of 2.8% compared to the same period in 2013. Despite this modest growth, Brazilian cement producers will see this as disappointing following years of higher growth prior to 2013.

However, events may not be that gloomy in Brazil after all. The prospect of CRH's impending purchase of three cement plants and two grinding plants from Lafarge and Holcim in Brazil with a cement production capacity of 3.6Mt/yr may stir up the market. For starters CRH may audit the suppliers the new plants are using and decide whether they want to continue using them. The acquisition will add a new player to compete with the existing producers in the high producing states of Minas Gerais and Rio De Janeiro. Competition authority Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) set up the terms for what Lafarge and Holcim would have to sell in December 2014, so now that a buyer has been found the move may go smoothly. Needless to say this presents an opening for any, say, Russian-based refractory producers looking for new clients!

India: Wonder Cement has appointment of Jagdish Chandra Toshniwal as Executive Director. Prior to joining Wonder Cement, Toshniwal spent 18 years with Ambuja Cement and was the Business Head of the Northern Region based in Delhi. An engineer by training, Toshniwal has strong operational and commercial skills.

Wonder Cement is planning to double its manufacturing capacity to 6.75Mt/yr by the fourth quarter of 2015. The company has said it will invest US$259m towards this. Wonder Cement is also in the process of increasing its dealer network. The company has significantly increased its brand spend.

The company's 3.25Mt/yr cement plant is located in RK Nagar, Tehsil-Nimbahera, District Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. A waste heat recovery system is currently being installed and the company is planning to build its own railway line and a captive power plant.

CRH has made good on its intentions. This week it stumped up Euro6.5bn to buy assets from Lafarge and Holcim in four continents. The move follows preparation since at least May 2014 when the Irish building materials group announced a divestment programme. In October 2014 it announced that it would sell its brickwork division.

CRH is finding the cash through a mix of existing cash, debt and equity placing. Interestingly, back in 2012 an Irish stockbroking analyst who was interviewed reckoned that the company could spend up to Euro3.5bn on acquisitions whilst remaining within its banking agreements. Throw in the recent sales and planned divestments and the planned acquisition from LafargeHolcim doesn't seem like too much of a stretch for CRH.

If completed, the purchase will see CRH take on 24 cement plants with a production capacity of 36Mt/yr. As a back of the envelope calculation suggests the sale price of Euro6.5bn isn't far off the occasionally used price of US$200/t for western cement production. The deal also includes aggregates, ready mixed concrete and asphalt assets.

The purchase marks a change in CRH's buying strategy both in terms of scale and distribution. Much of CRH's previous acquisitions have been minority shareholdings that make it difficult to accurately report the company's position in the cement industry. For example, in our Top 100 Report CRH was reported to have a production capacity of 6.49Mt/yr for majority shareholdings with another 19.9Mt/yr for minority shareholdings. The new cement capacity being purchased blows this away because it more than doubles CRH's total capacity and it appears to be all majority owned. CRH thinks that this will propel it to become the world's third biggest building materials manufacturer after LafargeHolcim and Saint-Gobain, leapfrogging Cemex and HeidelbergCement in the process. Strangely there is no mention of the huge Chinese players in the top five manufacturers in CRH's acquisition presentation.

CRH has avoided buying plants in southern Europe but it is relying on the slowly improving growing UK market, where CRH will pick up four plants, to balance the risk. Elsewhere in Europe, the three Holcim plants in France have been suffering from continued low construction rates in that country and the two Lafarge cement plants in Romania are unlikely to have recovered from a production fall in 2013. Outside of Europe growth has been poor in Quebec in 2013 and 2014, where CRH is buying two plants from Holcim. Both Lafarge and Holcim have also seen a slowdown in Brazil. However, the Philippines does seem like a better bet for CRH, with solid cement volumes growth seen by Lafarge in 2013 and the first three quarters of 2014.

With CRH now looking like a company that wants to produce cement rather than one that owns parts of companies that produce cement, all eyes are on the construction markets. 14 of the 24 cement plants CRH are buying are in Europe. Buying at the bottom of a sustained production slump makes sense because the asking price will be low. However, has the bottom been reached yet?

India: JK group Chairman Gaur Hari Singhania died on 4 February 2015 following a heart attack. Singhania, aged 80 years, was also the President of J K Organisation and a Promoter Director of JK Cement Ltd since its inception in 1994. He is survived by a son, Yadupati Singhania.

Singhania held chairmanship in other companies including Jaykay Enterprises Ltd, JK Cotton Ltd and JK Traders Ltd. He also served as Chairman of Merchants of Uttar Pradesh, the Employers Association of Northern India. He was also the founder chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Stock Exchange and founder patron of Associated Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, he served as Director in various corporations, such as in Pradeshiya Industrial Investment Corporation of Uttar Pradesh, UP State Industrial Development Corporation and Uttar Pradesh State Sugar Corporation.

A sports lover, he was the chief patron of Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA). He also contributed to various universities and had opened a university at Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Indonesia: Semen Indonesia has appointed its operational director Suparni as its new CEO. The state-owned company has taken the decision after receiving 69.6% votes from 76.1% its overall shareholders, according to The Jakarta Post. Suparni replaces Dwi Soetjipto, who has joined the oil and gas company Pertamina. The shareholders also appointed Rizkan Chandra to the board of directors.