Displaying items by tag: Eurocement
Eurocement to sign US$280m in contracts with Sinoma
12 November 2014China/Russia: Eurocement plans to sign three contracts worth a combined US$280m at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing. The contracts cover the construction of dry-process cement lines at the Kavkazcement, Belgorodsky Cement and Oskolcement plants. Each line will have a clinkcer capacity of 6200t/yr or a cement capacity of 3Mt/yr. Each contract is for US$93.3m and the contractor is Sinoma International Engineering.
In May 2014 Eurocement signed six contracts to build new plants with Sinomach, CNBM and Sinoma for a total of US$580m. All of the projects are being carried out as part of a programme to switch to dry-process cement production. Overall investments in the programme will exceed US$2bn.
"We plan to switch our enterprises to the new technological platform in three years, between 2014 and 2017," said Eurocement president Mikhail Skorokhod. By 2018, Eurocement intends to produce 100% of its cement using the dry-process. This will boost capacities by 5Mt/yr to 45Mt/yr, according to Skorokhod.
Eurocement has calculated that the programme will pay for itself in 7 - 10 years. Cost of production is planned to fall by 35% - 40%. The debt/equity ratio of financing for the programme is 70%:30%. In May 2014, Eurocement signed a strategic agreement with Sberbank to finance its investment programme.
Aditya Birla Group bids for LafargeHolcim assets
21 October 2014India: The Aditya Birla Group has submitted bids to purchase global assets being divested from the LafargeHolcim merger. UltraTech and other companies that belong to Birla have put in bids for cement units of Lafarge and Holcim in Brazil and the Philippines at an enterprise value of US$1.4bn. The group had identified Brazil as a major place for expansion three years ago. The Philippines was among the overseas countries where the group started operations several years ago.
Birla is competing with rival cement companies and private equity funds for the units. Germany's HeidelbergCement has teamed up with Votorantim Cimentos of Brazil while Cemex has joined hands with CRH plc. Eurocement is also in the race. Birla's move is part of its overall plan to increase its cement capacity to 70Mt/yr by early 2016 from 63Mt/yr currently.
Over 50% of Birla's revenues come from its overseas operations. According to a consultant involved with the deal, Birla will be unable to bid for LafargeHolcim assets in some of the market, including India, as a purchase will lead to monopoly in those markets.
Eurocement’s Mikhailovcement plant produces 1.21Mt of cement in January - September 2014
14 October 2014Russia: Eurocement's Mikhailovcement plant in Ryazan produced 1.21Mt of cement in January - September 2014, up by 20.2% on the same period of 2013. This includes 281,350t of CEM I 42.5H (+65.6%) and 981,620t of clinker (+17%). A total of 1.23Mt (+21.1%) was shipped to customers. The plant extracted 1.27Mt of limestone (+16.9%) and 439,860t of clay (17.2%) from its quarry during the first nine months of 2014.
Eurocement shuts down Savinsky cement plant
07 October 2014Russia: Eurocement has closed down Savinsky cement plant in the Arkhangelsk region for modernisation until 2018. Employees of the plant are reportedly afraid that the production will be eliminated as voluntary resignation was offered by the management of the plant. Savinsky cement plant produced 207,000t of cement in January - August 2014, down by 57% compared with the same period of 2013.
Eurocement orders 300MW power plants from Wärtsilä
23 September 2014Russia: Eurocement has signed a contract for more than Euro116.8m with Finnish power solutions company Wärtsilä for the supply of thermal power plants as part of its modernisation programme for reducing power costs. The total investments in the project will amount to Euro156m. The plants will have a combined capacity of over 300MW, which will meet 60% of the group's power needs and cut costs by 15 - 20%.
Court postpones consideration of appeal of Eurocement Group
11 September 2014Uzbekistan: The board of appeals of Tashkent regional economic court has postponed the consideration of the case regarding the privatisation of Eurocement's Ahangarancement plant.
Eurocement officials requested additional time to sign a settlement agreement with defendant, the State Committee of Uzbekistan, for the privatisation, demonopolisation and development of competition, according to local media. The next session of the appeal board of Tashkent regional economic court will be held on 25 September 2014.
Eurocement appeals Uzbek subsidiary privatisation
03 September 2014Uzbekistan: The Supreme Economic Court of Uzbekistan has received an appeal from the Russian company Eurocement Group asking the court to not annul the privatization of Ahangarancement. The appeal will be considered in the middle of September 2014.
On 21 July 2014, the Uzbek court declared the 2006 privatization of the cement plant invalid. Eurocement, the largest shareholder of the cement plant, dismisses the claims of the Uzbek committee. If the company loses the case, its assets will be nationalised.
Katavsky Cement to install a new ZVVZ dedusting system
01 September 2014Russia: Eurocement has allocated Euro6.2m for the implementation of a new dedusting system at the Katavsky Cement plant in Chelyabinsk. The launch of the system, which was made by the Czech manufacturer ZVVZ, will reduce dust emissions by 33%.
Eurocement and RZD complete railway renovation
18 August 2014Russia: The renovation of the Podgornoe railway in the Podgorensky District of Voronezh Region has now been completed at a total cost of Euro14.8m. Eurocement contributed Euro8.92m to the joint venture project, which was carried out with JSC Russian Railways.
"This is an excellent joint project between big businesses," said the governor of the Voronezh Region, Alexei Gordeev. "Eurocement and JSC Russian Railways were able to reach an agreement on joint investments in the station's renovation, which made it possible to substantially increase its cargo throughput. It was very fortunate for us that one of the largest cement plants was opened in the Podgorensky District of the Voronezh Region. Productivity tripled in the last year alone and all this is thanks to the efforts of the cement plant. Now the railroad is ready to meet the cargo transportation needs of the enterprise." According to the president of Eurocement, Mikhail Skorokhod, the station's renovation will support the shipping of up to 2Mt/yr of cement from Eurocement's plant.
As part of the renovation, existing routes were extended and underwent major repairs, which allows trains of increased length (up to 71 cars) to be used, overhead contact lines were repaired and upgraded and the system underwent a transition to the Ebilock-950 centralised microprocessor, which is designed to control switches and signals at the station. In total, 2.6km of track and 36 turnouts were laid, 13km of overhead contact lines and carrier wires were replaced, 245 new supports were installed and the station area was renovated.
Russia: Eurocement Group and China Triumph International Engineering (part of CNBM), have announced a project to build a mechanical engineering plant in the Ulyanovsk region. Total investments are estimated at US$3bn according to regional press. The implementation of this project was decided upon at a meeting of Ulyanovsk Governor Sergey Morozov, Eurocement Group President Mikhail Skorokhodov and representatives of China Triumph International Engineering.
The facility will make equipment for the cement industry as well as equipment for automotive, railway, oil and gas, chemical, defense and nuclear industries.
Skorokhodov said that Eurocement was currently implementing an 'unprecedented' phase of building new dry-process cement plants. It aims to increase its dry cement production ratio to 100% by 2018.