Displaying items by tag: Austria

Austria/Brazil: RHI and Magnesita are to merge to create a new refractory company called RHI Magnesita. RHI’s management board has agreed to sign a share purchase agreement with Magnesita’s controlling shareholders regarding the acquisition of a controlling stake of at least 46%, but no more than 50% plus one share of the total share capital of Magnesita, pending RHI’s supervisory board approval. The purchase price for the 46% stake will be paid in cash amounting to Euro118m and 4.6 million new shares to be issued by RHI Magnesita. The new company will be established in the Netherlands and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

As pat of the agreement, GP Investments (GP) will become a relevant shareholder of RHI Magnesita. The combined company’s corporate governance will consist of on a one-tier board structure while GP will be represented on the board of directors.

The deal is dependent on approvals by the relevant competition authorities, the migration of RHI to the Netherlands, the listing of RHI Magnesita’s shares in the premium segment of the Official List on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and RHI’s shareholders not having exceeded statutory withdrawal rights in an amount of more than Euro70m in connection with organisational changes preceding RHI’s migration from Austria. The migration and the preceding organisational changes in Austria require qualified approval by RHI’s shareholders’ meeting. If the deal is terminated for reasons not under the control of Magnesita’s controlling shareholders, an aggregate break fee of up to Euro20m is payable by RHI to Magnesita’s controlling shareholders.

The merger transaction is expected to complete in 2017. Until then, the two companies will remain completely separate and independent. Therefore customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders should expect no change in management teams, commercial relationships, supply chains and product offerings during this period.

RHI and Magnesita say that the new refractory company will bring together complementary businesses, both in terms of products and geographical footprint. Magnesita have a presence in South America and the US compared to RHI’s presence in Europe and Asia. The merger is also expected to aid the company’s position against the growing Chinese refractory industry. In addition, Magnesita’s position in dolomite-based products is complementary to RHI’s asset portfolio, which traditionally has a strong focus and an excellent market reputation for high-quality magnesite products.

Synergies from the merger are expected to deliver at least Euro36m in earnings before tax (EBIT) by 2020. However, if RHI Magnesita’s stake in Magnesita significantly exceed 46%, RHI expects substantially higher synergies of approximately Euro72m, especially in the areas of enhanced production efficiency and cost benefits in research and development, marketing and administrative functions. In addition, capital expenditure synergies are expected to amount to be Euro2 – 7m/yr and aggregate working capital savings of Euro40m are expected in the coming years.

Austria: Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H) has renamed BSW Machinery as W&H Machinery. This follows the integration of BSW Machinery, a woven packaging equipment and bag producer, into W&H over the last decade.

BSW Machinery was originally founded in Austria in 2005 focusing on the polypropylene woven market. Meanwhile, another W&H company at the same production plant in the Czech Republic concentrated producing sub-assemblies and components for the group. Both operations have now merged forming W&H Machinery. Expansion is planned for the plant and the newly named company employs over 400 workers.

Austria: A TEC are working on plans to increase kiln output with coarse and lower calorific fuel at the LafargeHolcim Mannersdorf cement plant. The intention is to increase the alternative fuels substitution rate to 100%. Other work being conducted includes lowering emissions and reducing pressure drop in the preheater tower. A higher separation efficiency of the top stage cyclones will also be achieved with increased production capacity.

A TEC will lead on the project as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. The execution of the project will be performed in collaboration with the Czech company Aliacem s.r.o. Přerov. Erection works will start in September 2016 and the whole project will be finished in March 2017.

Austria: The Federation of Austrian Cement Industry (VÖZ) has reported that its national cement market volumes grew by 4% year-on-year to 4.6Mt in 2015. Overall sales turnover increased by 4.3% to Euro388m. Alongside this, the use of alternative fuels by the cement industry increased to 76.1% in 2015 from 75.5% in 2015.

Rudolf Zrost, CEO of VÖZ, lauded the growth in cement volumes despite a ‘difficult’ year. Looking ahead to 2016 he expected that a turnaround in housing investment and hopes for infrastructure spending in 2016 would aid the market.
He also warned against emissions trading describing it as ‘bureaucratic’, as stifling innovation and as having no basis in reality.

Germany: IKN has placed an order for a A TEC GRECO kiln burner for the HeidelbergCement’s cement plant at Burglengenfeld. The project will be completed by the end of 2016. It is part of a general upgrade being conducted at the plant by IKN.

The scope of A TEC GRECO’s supply includes the engineering, design and manufacturing of a tailor-made combustion system including the required peripheral systems for operation. The burner thermal power will be 75MW. The burner is intended use with lignite, sewage sludge, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), diesel and solvents.

A TEC GRECO is a subsidiary of A TEC specialising in burners for kilns and calciners.

Austria: A TEC Group has appointed Wolfgang Hammer as its new managing director. The former Global Sales Manager at the company replaces Hans Joachim Grieb who retired on 31 March 2016. Stefan Kern has been appointed his deputy. He is responsible for the markets Northern Europe, Eastern Europe and South Africa. These appointments are effective from 1 April 2016.

Austria: A TEC will install a Rocket Mill at a treatment plant of A.S.A. in Wiener Neustadt to produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF). The 7 – 9t/hour plant will be taken into operation in August 2016. RDF will be supplied from the plant to the cement industry with an output size of up to 15mm.

The Rocket Mill will be mainly produced at A TEC’s production site in Eberstein. It will have a 2 x 315kW drive unit and a rotor speed of c580rpm. A TEC Group focused on the optimisation and efficiency improvement of cement plants.

Austria: BSW Machinery has presented a new type of woven polypropylene (PP) bag that is 20% lighter than comparable bags. Using its Light & Strong (LS) technology BSW has produced 64g bags that they say outperformed standard 80g bags commonly used in the cement industry in drop tests. Key elements of the LS technology include advanced extrusion technology for higher tape tenacity and indexed micro perforation.

The Vienna-based subsidiary of Windmöller & Hölscher has implemented new processing technology on BSW's tape extrusion line tiraTex to achieve higher strength without compromising elasticity. Tenacity values of 7g/den can be achieved with elongation at break values ranging be-tween 25% and 30% using standard PP grades commonly used in industry. The processing characteristics can be maintained at high outputs and production speeds of 500m/min or more.

The LS bags also have higher edge strength by protecting edges and other areas through indexed perforation. The perforation is disengaged whenever vulnerable sections of bag material are passing through the bag conversion machine. Synchronization ensures that the unperforated areas are matched to the print on the bag and are placed such that in the final bag the critical zones are built from un-perforated material.

Europe: Cemex has completed the sale of its business operations in Austria and Hungary to Germany's Rohrdorfer Group for about Euro160m.

Cemex's Austrian operations, which comprise 24 aggregate quarries and 34 ready-mix plants, reported Euro219m in net sales in 2014. The operations in Hungary include five aggregate quarries and 34 ready-mix facilities and had net sales of some Euro42.7m in 2014.

Cemex hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley & Co International plc to act as financial advisors in this transaction. The proceeds from the sale will be used mainly to finance general corporate purposes and to pay off debt.

Canada: Austria's Radex-Heraklith Industriebeteiligungs (RHI) has received a US$11.6m order from Lafarge in Canada. RHI will deliver materials for the expansion of Lafarge's cement plant in Exshaw, Alberta. The cement industry comprises 12% of RHI's sales.