Displaying items by tag: GCW254

Australia: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed an appeal against a US$12.6m fine against Cement Australia, which it views is too low. On 16 May 2016 a Federal Court published orders imposing a penalty of US$13.7m on the cement producer. One order was then set aside, reducing the fine to US$12.6m. However, the ACCC contends that a penalty of over US$66m is more appropriate for the breaches of Australia’s competition legislation.

“The ACCC will argue to the Full Court that the penalties imposed on Cement Australia are manifestly inadequate, and not of appropriate deterrent value,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims. He added that suitable financial penalties were considered ‘essential’ as a deterrent to anti-competitive conduct and to prevent businesses viewing such behaviour as an acceptable cost of doing business.

The proceedings relate to contracts that were entered into by Cement Australia companies between 2002 and 2006 with four power stations in South East Queensland, to acquire fly ash. The court found numerous contraventions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It also fined Christopher White, a manager in the Cement Australia fly ash business during the relevant period, a penalty of US$14,700 for his involvement in making the contravening contracts with the operator of the Swanbank power station in 2005.

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.

Philippines: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the US$857m initial public offering of Cemex Holdings Philippines. Documents filed with the SEC showed that Cemex Holdings planned to sell 2.032 billion common shares at an offer price of up to US$0.37/share to raise US$746m in proceeds. Another 304.94 million shares were allotted in case of oversubscription, which could increase total proceeds to US$857m, making it among the largest IPOs in the country, according to the Manila Standard newspaper.

Documents show that Cemex Holdings aimed to use the proceeds to repay up to US$504m worth of short-term loans from related third party New Sunward Holdings, which was used to acquire operating subsidiaries Apo Cement Corp and Solid Cement Corp. Cemex Holdings said it planned to spend US$52m for 2016 capital expenditures, including US$13m for maintenance of existing cement facilities.

Cemex Holdings is a newly formed subsidiary of Cemex Asian South East Corp., which is wholly-owned by Cemex España, which in turn is indirectly owned by Cemex. Cemex Holdings operates two cement plants in the Philippines with a cement production capacity of 5.7Mt/yr.

France: Private equity firm Astorg is to sell company Kerneos, according to sources reported on by Reuters. Investment bank Lazard has been appointed to work on the sale. The sale of the calcium aluminate cements producer could generate around Euro1bn. None of the parties commented on the story.

Kerneos started as a joint venture between subsidiaries of Lone Star Industries and Lafarge Coppée in 1970. It was purchased by Astorg from building materials business Materis in 2014 for around Euro600m.

Sri Lanka: South Korean conglomerate AFKO Group GMEX has expressed interest in reopening the Kankesanthurai cement plant located in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, the country’s Industry and Commerce Ministry has said, according to the Daily Mirror.

“AFKO specialises in cement projects. We are keen to partner in the Kankesanthurai Cement Project and are ready to enter with US$450m as a start. We shall also bring in all the necessary machinery and technology and can start from scratch. We only need Sri Lanka’s land and labour,” said AFKO Group GMEX chairman Keun Young Lee at a meeting with Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen in Colombo. Lee also expressed interest in cement production elsewhere in Sri Lanka.

AFKO intends to start a feasibility study shortly. Ssangyong C&T is the favoured engineering company to start construction at the site. AFKO Group, which merged with Korea’s multinational Hyundai Group in 2008, runs its own construction and cement projects in Africa and elsewhere.

The Kankesanthurai cement plant started operations in 1950 under the Department of Industries and was converted to a public corporation in 1956, being named as Kankesan Cement Works. It closed in 1991 due the civil war. At that time it had a production capacity of 115,000t/yr. In 2011 – 2012 Sri Lanka Cement Corporation and Lanka Cement Limited were planning to resume bagging at the plant. Previously, UAE-based cement company Ras Al Khaimah had been linked to a US$100m investment plan in the plant.

Sri Lanka: LafargeHolcim is exiting its cement business in Sri Lanka, according to the EconomyNext financial news service. A spokesperson said the decision to sell its subsidiary Holcim Lanka was part of a larger global divestment strategy. The company operates the country’s only integrated cement plant, a cement grinding plant and a bagging plant.

UK: Mechanical power transmission companies David Brown and Santasalo merged on 1 June 2016 to create David Brown Santasalo. Clyde Blowers Capital, an industrial investment firm based in Scotland, owns the business.

The merged company intends to serve markets in commodities, marine, defence, power, industrial and consumer end sectors. Its core business lies in gear engineering and power transmission products. The new company contains more than 1000 employees, seven major manufacturing plants and 23 service centres across six continents.

“David Brown Santasalo covers varied end markets including naval ships, minerals processing and the manufacture of a wide range of pulp and paper products. Across all these markets, our core differentiator is our fundamental capability to design and engineer gear systems for the world’s most demanding applications,” said Thomas Burley, Chief Executive Officer of David Brown Santasalo. He added that the company intends to focus on expanding its sales and service network, enhance its product offering and invest in its manufacturing base around the world.

Germany: Möllers Group has opened a new training academy at its headquarters in Beckum. The 1250m² facility cost Euro3m and it took nine months to build. It will start training operations in June 2016. The official opening of the site took place on 31 May 2016.

Egypt: The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has received eight requests from local and international companies for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) licences after the deadline for applications closed on 31 May 2016. IDA Chairperson Ismail Gaber said the authority would start studying submissions in accordance with the rules and regulations approved by the terms of reference and verify their match to requirements within 60 days.

The technical qualification committee decides on the qualified companies to join the bid for obtaining licences. The IDA has completed the delivery of terms of reference on 14 new licences for the launch of OPC projects in nine governorates, with a total production capacity of 28Mt. The applicants are responsible for the management of its energy needs, where 35 local and foreign companies bought 37 terms of reference.

The IDA had previously extended the application period to 31 May 2016 according to Daily News Egypt.

US: Thermo Fisher Scientific have released a new online elemental analyser that can be used in real time quality control for process optimisation in cement production. The Thermo Scientific CB Omni Fusion analyser allows users to choose either an electrically-driven neutron generator or an isotope, Californium (²⁵²Cf), as the analyser’s excitation source. This enables them to continuously measure the elemental composition of the entire raw material stream carried on a conveyor belt.

“Cement manufacturers are under increased pressure to maximise resources and reduce costs,” said Kevin Gordon, global marketing manager for prompt gamma neutron activation analysis for Thermo Fisher Scientific. “We’ve developed the CB Omni Fusion with flexibility in mind. Quality control managers and operators can gather immediate results from raw material analysis to save time, money and energy, and they can customize the instrument to work best for them.”

The product also features a new software interface suite, Omni View, which allows users to configure the analyser to their process requirements. Additional features of the Thermo Scientific CB Omni Fusion analyser include: auto-diagnostic software to track system health and operational conditions; modular design to facilitate installation on existing conveyor trusses; and one to four large volume detectors and variable tunnel heights to accommodate process conditions.

The Thermo Scientific CB Omni Fusion analyser follows other analytics products from Thermo Fisher Scientific including the CB Omni and CB Omni Flex. It can also be used for elemental analysis in the sinter ore, scrap steel and mineral production processes.