Displaying items by tag: Finland

Finland: UK-based minerals group SigmaRoc has acquired Nordkalk for Euro500m. The group says that Nordkalk, SigmaRoc’s sixth platform, adds a core limestone business from more than 30 locations across 10 European countries. Circular economy products comprise 13% of Nordkalk’s sales volumes. It currently makes careful use of by-products and SigmaRoc says it has a clear ambition towards fossil-free and carbon neutral operations in the future.

SigmaRoc Chair David Barrett said “Nordkalk is a well-established and well-respected business with a substantial asset footprint spanning Northern Europe. It has a long history of success and much future potential. This acquisition creates a raft of new opportunities for SigmaRoc to capitalise on in the months and years ahead.”

Chief executive officer Max Vermorken said “The acquisition of Nordkalk, Northern Europe’s leading limestone products company, is a great stepping stone in the evolution of our group, expanding our footprint across Northern European markets. We are purchasing a high-quality business at the right point in the cycle and at an attractive valuation. Nordkalk meets all our stringent investment criteria as a self-contained and asset-backed business which will bring the Group significant earnings growth. We look forward to helping Nordkalk and its experienced management team on its path to continued success as we perpetuate its 120-year history, name and success.”

Finland: Tana has celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding in 1971. It marked the occasion by setting an ambitious growth target of Euro100m within the next ten years from Euro40.0m in 2020. It said that the ‘open-minded and innovative’ tradition which it has maintained over the past 50 years will continue in future. Tana is a producer of waste shredders.

Finland: Lujabetoni says it has begun work on a new 80 - 100m3/hr ready-mix concrete plant in Kuopio, Northern Savonia to replace its existing plant in the town. The new unit, which will serve construction projects throughout the region, will have an improved raw materials heating system. The plant is scheduled for completion in late 2020 or early 2021.

Russia: Sibirskiy Cement subsidiary Krasnoyarsk Cement has equipped the exhaust stack of its 1.1Mt/yr Krasnoyarsk, Siberia plant with an emissions monitoring system supplied by Finland-based Gasmet. The system provides continuous NO_x, CO₂ and SO₂ monitoring via a UK-based Oxitec 500E gas analyser, Germany-based Durag D-FL-220 flow rate meter and a Gasmet Simatic computer. Krasnoyarsk managing director Vladimir Afanasin said, “We approached the choice of equipment taking into account all the requirements of the Russian environmental legislation, which have recently been significantly tightened.”

Krasnoyarsky Cement will complete preliminary testing of the installation in late 2020.

Finland: Tana has appointed Kari Liuska as its chief executive officer (CEO) with effect from 1 May 2020. Present CEO and owner Kari Kangas will continue as chairman of the board.

Liuska will transfer to Tana from Etteplan Oyj, where he worked as a Senior Vice President in Software and Embedded Solutions. Liuska has worked in Etteplan's management positions since 2016 and before that as managing director of Espotel.

Kangas, the owner-CEO of Tana Oy, will become the full-time chairman of the board. A smooth transition is anticipated as Liuska has been a member of the board of Tana for around one year.

Tana is a waste management company that produces landfill compactors, waste shredders and waste screening technologies.

Finland: Machinery manufacturer Metso Corporation has announced plans to consolidate its European warehouse operations, currently spread over Norway, Sweden, the UK, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Russia, into a single location. Metso Corporation customer logistics senior vice president Jarkko Aro said the move ‘would also enable considerable savings in end-to-end freight costs and reduced CO2 emissions.’ 40 employees are potentially affected. Metso Corporation has not disclosed any locations under consideration for the facility.

Finland: Metso has appointed Giuseppe Campanelli as President, Minerals Services business area and a member of its executive team. Previously he was a member of the Minerals Services business area management team heading Professional Services. It has also appointed Kalle Sipilä as President, Pumps business area and a member of the executive team. Prior to this, he was operationally in charge of the pumps business area in addition to his role as head of Finance and Business Control of the Minerals Services business area.

The new appointments follow the resignation of Mikko Keto, Metso’s former president of its Minerals Services and Pumps business areas.

China/Finland: Metso Corporation has announced that it will complete its takeover of Shaorui Heavy Industries with the exercise of its call option over 25% of shares. Markku Simula, President of the Aggregates Equipment division of Metso, has expressed the company’s high expectations of Shaorui, one of China’s ‘leading mid-market crushing and screening equipment producers.’ The purchase will be completed in late 2019.

Finland: Metso and Outotec have agreed to merge Metso Minerals and Outotec to create a company specialising in process technology, equipment and services serving the minerals, metals and aggregates industries. The new company will be called Metso Outotec. Metso Flow Control will be excluded from the merger and renamed as Neles and run as a separate company. The companies comprising Metso Outotec had combined sales of around Euro3.9bn in 2018.

The merger will be implemented through a partial demerger of Metso, in which all assets and liabilities of Metso that relate to Metso Minerals will transfer to Outotec in exchange for newly-issued shares in Outotec to be delivered to Metso shareholders. Outotec shareholders will continue to own their shares in Outotec.
The transaction will be dependent on shareholder and regulatory approval. The process is expected complete in the second quarter of 2020.

The current chief executive officer (CEO) of Metso, Pekka Vauramo, will become Metso Outotec’s CEO, and the current CEO of Outotec, Markku Teräsvasara, will become the Deputy CEO of Metso Outotec. Eeva Sipilä will become the chief financial officer (CFO) and Deputy CEO of Metso Outotec. The board of Metso Outotec will include board members from both companies. It is proposed that Metso Outotec’s chairman will be Mikael Lilius and that the Vice Chairman will be Matti Alahuhta.

“Today is an exciting day as we announce the transformational combination of two great companies and simultaneously create an independent leader in flow control. The combination of Metso and Outotec is a unique opportunity to deliver significant value for our shareholders with a broad presence across minerals, metals and aggregates value chains and an even stronger platform for growth and innovation,” said Mikael Liliu.

Iraq: Al Shumookh Lucky Investments, a subsidiary of Pakistan’s Lucky Cement, has ordered a power pant from Finland’s Wärtsilä for its Najmat Al-Samawa cement plant. The equipment is scheduled for delivery towards the end of 2019, and the plant is expected to become fully operational during the third quarter of 2020. No price for the order has been disclosed.

The power plant will operate on two Wärtsilä 32 engines running on locally-available heavy fuel oil (HFO) with diesel as a back-up fuel. The engine is designed to operate with reduced fuel and water consumption in hot climates.