Displaying items by tag: Debts

China: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has agreed to a US$720m debt swap with Jindong Development Group. The bank will use a limited partnership fund to invest US$360m in the cement producer in the first phase of the transaction, according to Reuters. After the proposed swap is completed, Jindong Development's leverage ratio will fall by 8%.

China: Shandong Shanshui Cement has entered into a debt investment framework agreement. Cinda Shandong will acquire the defaulted bonds issued by Shandong Shanshui. It will also loan Shandong Shanshui up to US$1.15bn. Deputy chairman Mi Jingtian told the Xinhua News Agency that his company had 'paid in full' all outstanding interest and regained a 'normal working relationship' with commercial banks. Earlier in December 2016 Shandong Shanshui said that it had settled with China Merchants Bank in a dispute over US$81m of loans. Shanshui Cement has faced financial problems since a shareholder battle for control of the company took place in late 2015.

Mexico: Cemex says that it has made progress towards reducing its debts in 2016. So far it has announced divestments of close to US$2bn, it has reduced its total debt plus perpetual securities by more than US$2bn and says it is on target to reach its leverage ratio target of about 4.25 times by the end of the year. Cemex is also on track to reach its debt reduction target of US$3 - 3.5bn by the end of 2017.

“Despite challenging market conditions, working on the variables we can control has allowed us to be well on our way to significantly strengthen our capital structure, and we expect to continue to be able to do so in the near future,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, chief executive officer of Cemex.

Russia: Asia Cement intends to swap its US$86.5m debt to Vnesheconombank (VEB) for a 49% stake, the Kommersant newspaper has reported. VEB will also provide Asia Cement with a loan to help it refinance two loans, worth a total of US$259.6m. The source quoted by the newspaper said that the swap of the debt for equity was a technical transaction aimed at reducing the company's debt burden. Asia Cement operates a cement plant in the Penza region.

Russia: Eurocement Group plans to use part of the funds raised from China National Building Materials Group Corporation (CNBM) to reduce its debts. The cement producer told Interfax that, although negotiations are on going, it wants to use some of the funds raised through the Chinese company’s participation in its capital to restructure current debt. It will also use the funding to invest in new ‘high-return’ areas.

Eurocement signed a partnership agreement with CNBM on 25 June 2016 during Russian president Vladimir Putin's visit to China. CNBM plans to develop its business in the construction materials market in Russia and the CIS, including by acquiring an equity stake in Eurocement Group. The total investment could be as high as US$5bn.

India: Jaypee Group companies have defaulted on loans and other payments worth US$666m. The group has, on a consolidated basis failed to repay US$434m in principal amount to banks and another US$233m in interest payments.

Jaiprakash Associates, the group's main company, reported a loss of US$500m in its 2015 – 2016 financial year, compared to US$259m in the same period in the previous year. Earlier in 2016, Jaiprakash Associates agreed a deal to sell cement plants in five states to UltraTech Cement for US$2.4bn. Once the deal concludes Jaiprakash Associates will be left with a cement production capacity of 10.6Mt/yr in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

India: The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Nagpur has barred Murli Industries from selling or mortgaging its assets due to outstanding debts of over US$275m. The nine directors of the company have been asked not to leave the country without prior permission of the tribunal, according to the Times of India. Accusations of financial irregularities have also been levelled at the directors by the tribunal.

Murli Industries runs a cement plant in Chandrapur, Maharashtra that has been described by the Times as ‘practically closed down’. Workers at the unit have not been paid reportedly since the autumn of 2015. Subsequently they have preventing the company from transporting cement or raw materials out of the plant until they are compensated.

South Korea: Creditors could put Hyundai Cement on sale in 2016, according to sources quoted by the Korea Herald. The South Korean cement producer has been on a debt management scheme. Its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank, will be able to complete any sale when the lock-up period on their shares in the company expire at the end of 2016.

Previously the company suffered financially from the misfortunes of its affiliate Sungwoo Engineering & Construction. Sungwoo has since been sold to other investors.

Spain: The refinancing of a Euro825m loan of cement producer Cementos Portland Valderrivas has stalled. Fomento de Construcciones & Contratas SA (FCC) offered a 10% ‘haircut’ to the loan which matures in July 2016 but the offer has been rejected by the company’s creditors. FCC, a Spanish civil engineering group, owns an 80% stake in Cementos Portland Valderrivas.

More than 50% of the debt of Portland is now in hands of so called ‘vulture funds’ such as Apollo, Davidson and Avenue whose return requirements are different than those of traditional banks. After a recent Euro709m capital hike FCC has set aside around Euro300m to appease creditors, according to the Expansión newspaper.

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa is marketing a US$302m bond to refinance some of the US Dollar-denominated debt held by its subsidiary United Company of Nigeria (UNICEM), which it bought in 2015. Chief finance officer Anders Kristiansson said that there was strong interest for the bond and that book-building was expected to open in the second week of May 2016.

The cement maker said it had received approval from Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a US$500m bond, but will issue US$302m for five-years. "We are in the process of restructuring the UNICEM debt,” explained Kristiansson. "We want to refinance the US Dollar borrowings that we have in UNICEM."