![](/templates/proglobalmedia-main/images/globe-blue-whitebg.gif)
Displaying items by tag: Acquisition
US: Construction materials company Summit Materials has completed its previously announced acquisition of a 1.2Mt/yr capacity cement plant in Davenport, Iowa along with seven cement distribution terminals from Lafarge North America for US$450m in cash, plus an exchange of Summit's Bettendorf, Iowa cement distribution terminal.
The newly acquired cement operations will compliment Summit's existing cement plant in Hannibal, Missouri and cement distribution terminal in St Louis, Missouri. The combined business will operate as Continental Cement, an existing wholly-owned subsidiary of Summit.
Following completion of the transaction, Summit owns 2.4Mt/yr of cement production capacity across the two cement plants plus eight cement distribution terminals along the Mississippi River system ranging from Minneapolis, Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana.
Namibia: All Africa has reported that the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) plans to increase its stake in Ohorongo Cement, Namibia's only cement producer, in July 2015.
Foreign minority shareholders Development Bank of Southern Africa (which owns a 7.3% stake) and IDC of South Africa (which owns 20%) are in the process of selling their shares to Namibian institutional investors such as pension funds.
According to sources who preferred to stay anonymous, since the official announcement will only be made later this month, Germany's Schwenk Zement is the majority shareholder with a stake of around 60%. The official announcement is expected to be made on 29 July 2015 during the ground-breaking of the composite cement production plant and the inauguration of a training centre at Otavi, where the company's operations are based.
Sika acquires Addiment Italia from Buzzi Unicem
01 July 2015Italy: According to Dow Jones, Sika has acquired the remaining shares of the Italian-based Addiment Italia from its joint venture partner Buzzi Unicem. Addiment Italia, founded in 2003, is active in the production and sale of concrete admixtures and cement grinding aids. The transaction will strengthen Sika's production set up in Italy and increase its market presence. Addiment Italia generated sales of Euro14m in 2014.
"The cooperation between Buzzi Unicem and Sika as joint venture partners of Addiment Italia has continued effectively for more than twelve years, with good understanding of the common goals and management decisions that led to great results for both employees and shareholders. We hope that our future business relationship will continue with the same long-lasting success," said Buzzi Unicem's co-CEO Pietro Buzzi.
"The acquisition will allow us to further build upon the successful partnership between Buzzi Unicem and Sika in the admixture business worldwide and strengthen the operational footprint in Italy. We welcome the new employees on board and look forward to developing the business together," said Paul Schuler, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region head.
India: JK Cement has received the necessary approval to make Jaykaycem (Central) its wholly-owned subsidiary by acquiring 100% of the paid up equity capital. The JK Cement board of directors approved the move on 26 June 2015.
India: According to the Financial Express, Jaiprakash Associates is close to selling its 1Mt/yr capacity cement plant at Sikandarabad, Uttar Pradesh to HeidelbergCement for around US$78.6m.
If the deal materialises, it would be the fifth cement asset sale by Jaiprakash Associates in little over a year. The group is looking to sell assets, including cement and power plants, to reduce its large debt. The aggregate debt of the group at the end of the 2014 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2014, stood at around US$8.65bn. Though it has so far divested assets worth US$2.36bn, the impact of the asset sales is yet to reflect on the group's balance sheet. It aims to cut down debt further by around US$1.57bn by the end of the current 2016 fiscal year, which ends on 31 March 2016. So far, Jaiprakash Associates has divested around 13Mt/yr of its overall cement capacity and is left with around 23Mt/yr.
Unnamed sources have said that Jaiprakash Associates also plans to sell two more of its cement plants, in Baga and Bagheri in Himachal Pradesh and Balaji in Andhra Pradesh, but the matter is stuck due to valuation issues. Aditya Birla Group's UltraTech Cement and HeidelbergCement have reportedly been in talks regarding their acquisition.
India: According to the Irish Examiner, CRH is being linked with a second potential Asian deal in as many weeks, this one with a price tag of around US$1bn. A Mergermarket report has it that CRH is one of 16 likely bidders for assets in eastern India being sold by Lafarge. The disposal makes up part of the conditions related to Lafarge's merger with Holcim.
Local press stated that CRH is an 'obvious bidder' given that it already has a presence in southern India and is in the process of buying US$7.32bn of assets as part of the LafargeHolcim deal. However, Mergermarket claims CRH is vying with HeidelbergCement, among others, for the new assets and has until the end of June 2015 to complete due diligence and until 15 July 2015 to submit a binding bid.
Ukraine: Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine has reported a net loss of Euro8136 for 2014, a net revenue of Euro398,695. Compared to 2013, its net loss fell 7.2-fold and its revenue fell 6.6-fold.
Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine plans to acquire the Volyn Cement plant in Rivne and the YUGcement plant in Mykolaiv. The plants are already part of Dyckerhoff and would be turned into separate divisions in order to increase sales in Ukraine. The planned production capacity of Volyn Cement is 2Mt/yr, while YUGcement produces 1.25Mt/yr of cement.
Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine's shareholders will also consider the early termination of powers of the current supervisory board and the election of a new one.
Morgan Stanley buys 0.62% stake in Prism Cement
28 May 2015India: Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore has bought a 0.62% stake in Prism Cement for US$4.98m. The 3.14m shares were purchased at a price of US$1.58/share.
Lafarge’s Indian divestments receive six bids
20 May 2015India: Six foreign and domestic cement companies, along with one private equity firm, have expressed interest in buying the assets that Lafarge is divesting in India before it closes its merger with Holcim. The bids were in excess of US$627m.
The deadline for submitting non-binding bids for the assets expired on 16 May 2015. Ahead of that deadline, local media reported that bids came from Shree Cement, Chettinad Cement, HeidelbergCement India, The Ramco Cements, CRH and Blackstone Group.
As a precondition to clearing Indian leg of the LafargeHolcim, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) directed Lafarge to sell two of its assets in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. These are a cement plant at Sonadih, Chhattisgarh and a grinding plant at Jojobera, Jharkhand, with a total capacity of approximately 5Mt/yr. In its directions, the CCI said that Lafarge should sell its assets 'to relatively smaller players, having an installed capacity of less than 5% of their total capacity in the relevant geographic market.'
With the non-binding bids in, Lafarge is likely to shortlist bidders by the middle of June 2015. The deal is likely to be concluded in July 2015.
India: UltraTech Cement plans to buy Jaiprakash Associates' Bhilai plant for US$330 – 345m. The plant has US$87.5m of debt.