Displaying items by tag: GCW703

Boral announced this week that it had secured around US$15m from the Australian government towards decarbonisation upgrades at its Berrima cement plant in New South Wales. The funding will go towards the company’s own investment in a kiln feed optimisation project. A new specialised grinding circuit and supporting infrastructure at the site is intended to increase the proportion of alternative raw materials (ARM) from 9% to 23% to decrease the amount of limestone the kiln uses. The use of more ARMs should also enable the unit to reduce its energy intensity. Boral plans to use ARMs including granulated blast furnace slag, steel slag, cement fibre board, fly ash and fine aggregates from recycled concrete. Commissioning and full operation of the changes are scheduled for 2028.

The Berrima plant officially opened its last set of changes, including a chlorine bypass unit, in December 2024. This was done to allow the plant to reach a thermal substitution rate (TSR) of 60% by the end of 2027. At the end of 2024 the company said it had a TSR of 30% having risen by 20% from 2023. Another similar decarbonisation project at the plant is a carbon capture and storage demonstration pilot trial involving the recarbonation of construction and demolition waste.

Parent company SGH said in its annual report for 2024 that Boral was continuing to advocate for a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) to prevent carbon leakage and that it had taken part in the ongoing government review on the issue. This lobbying was visible earlier in March 2025 when the Cement Industry Federation (CIF) publicly addressed the government on the issue ahead of its next budget. It asked that carbon leakage be addressed in the form of an import tax to protect the local cement and lime sector. Cement and lime imports from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan are particularly seen as an issue. The government review into carbon leakage started in 2023 and is due to report back at some point in 2025, most likely after the parliamentary election in May 2025.

Another big sector news story to note is the ongoing acquisition of the cementitious division of the Buckeridge Group of Companies (BGC) by Cement Australia that was revealed in December 2024. Unsurprisingly, the European Commission (EC) approved the deal in late March 2025. Cement Australia’s parent companies Holcim and Heidelberg Materials are headquartered in Europe, but the EC concluded that the planned transaction was unlikely to dampen competition in Europe. The verdict of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is likely to be far more telling. It closed taking submissions on the proposed deal in late February 2025 and plans to release an update in May 2025.

The ACCC’s market inquiries letter reported that Cement Australia wants to run BCG Cement. However, under the acquisition proposal, BGC Quarries and BGC Asphalt will be acquired and operated by a new 50:50 joint venture between Holcim and Heidelberg Materials, which will operate as a production joint venture in respect of aggregates. Holcim and Heidelberg Materials have suggested taking four ready-mixed concrete (RMC) plants each in the greater Perth area. Finally, one RMC plant at Wangara could be divested due to the close proximity of existing plants run by Holcim and Heidelberg Materials. Whether this is what actually happens remains to be seen.

Finally, Holcim flagged-up Australia this week as one of the regions it intends to derive ‘profitable growth’ from after the planned spin-off of the US business. This approach is in line with the hunt by the big building materials companies for new growth markets as the cost of merger and acquisition activity in the US has risen. CRH, for example, bought a majority stake in AdBri in mid-2024. Further merger and acquisition activity in the cement sector in Australia seems less likely given its relative small size. Yet the higher economic growth forecast for the country compared to Europe is likely to keep multinationals interested.

India: Ambuja Cements has appointed Vinod Bahety as its CEO for a three-year term. He succeeds Ajay Kapur in the post, who has been appointed as the company’s managing director. Other personnel changes include the appointment of Rakesh Tiwary as chief financial officer (CFO), Madhavi Isanaka as Chief Digital Officer, Vaibhav Dixit as Head of Manufacturing and Ashwin Raikundaliya as Chief Sustainability Officer.

Bahety has worked as the company’s CFO since mid-2022. He holds over 25 years of experience in various management positions in the manufacturing and finance sectors. Before joining the cement industry, he was the Group Head for Merger & Acquisition at Adani Group. He holds qualifications as a chartered accountant and a cost and works accountant.

Mexico: Changes to Cemex’s regional management started on 1 April 2025 following the appointment of Jaime Muguiro as new group CEO. Jesus Gonzalez has been appointed as president of Cemex USA, Sergio Menendez as president of Cemex Mexico, Jose Antonio Cabrera as president of Cemex Europe, Middle East, and Africa and Alejandro Ramirez as president of Cemex South, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Jesús González joined Cemex in 1998 and has held several management positions, including Corporate Director of Strategic Planning, Vice President of Strategic Planning in Cemex USA, President of Cemex Central America, President of Cemex UK, Executive Vice President of Sustainability and Operations Development and, most recently, President of Cemex South, Central America and the Caribbean. He holds a master’s degree in naval engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and a master’s of business administration (MBA) from IESE - University of Navarra, Barcelona.

Sergio Menéndez has worked for Cemex since 1993. Prominent roles he has held include Director of Planning and Logistics in Asia, Corporate Director of Commercial Development, President of Cemex Philippines, Vice President of Strategic Planning for the Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia region, President of Cemex Egypt, Vice President of Infrastructure Segment and Government Sales in Mexico, Vice President of Distribution Segment Sales in Mexico and most recently, President of Cemex Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. He holds an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and an MBA from Stanford University.

José Antonio Cabrera joined Cemex in 2000 and started in cement operation roles. He has since worked as President for Cemex in Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Haiti, as well as Vice President of Strategic Planning for Cemex in the Asia, Middle East and Africa region. He holds an undergraduate degree in physics from La Laguna University in Spain and an MBA from the IE Business School.

Alejandro Ramírez has worked for Cemex since 2000 starting in strategic planning roles. He later became President for Cemex in Colombia & Peru, Dominican Republic, Caribbean, Costa Rica, TCL Group, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Thailand. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Tecnológico de Monterrey and an MBA from Wharton business school.

Austria: Wietersdorfer Group has appointed Tanja Pfaff-Röders as Head of Global Human Resources.

Pfaff-Röders previously worked for the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) in human resource roles from 2018. Her final position was as the lead on International Strategic HR Projects / Diversity & Inclusion. Before this she worked for Xerox, Hoerbiger, Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) and Sparkasse Baden. She is a graduate of the Vienna University of Economics and Business with additional qualifications from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Denmark: Air Liquide and Cementir Holding, via its Danish subsidiary Aalborg Portland, have signed the European Innovation Fund grant agreement for the ACCSION project at the Aalborg cement plant. The project aims to reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 1.5Mt/yr, with the captured CO₂ transported via pipeline to onshore CO₂ storage facilities.

The value of the Innovation Fund grant is €220m, fully financed by the EU Emissions Trading System.

Greece: Ecocem has signed a partnership agreement with Titan Group to co-develop and deliver low-carbon cements using Ecocem’s ACT technology. The collaboration will initially target the Greek market, replacing a portion of clinker with locally sourced supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to reduce cement CO₂ emissions by up to 70%.

Group managing director Donal O’Riain said “Signing this co-development and technology transfer agreement with a partner of Titan Group’s size and calibre is a real demonstration of confidence in our ACT technology. This partnership has the potential to accelerate the use of a range of SCMs with ACT technology and deliver rapid and low-cost decarbonisation of the cement industry globally.”

US: Heidelberg Materials North America announced that it has completed the acquisition of Giant Cement Holding (GCHI) and its subsidiaries Giant Cement Company, Dragon Products Company and Giant Resource Recovery from the Fortaleza, Uniland and Trituradora groups.

The deal includes a cement plant in Harleyville, South Carolina, four associated distribution terminals, and cement and slag distribution terminals in Newington, New Hampshire and Thomaston, Maine. It also includes Giant Resource Recovery, an alternative fuel recycling business in the eastern US.

President and CEO Chris Ward said “We are pleased to complete the acquisition of the GCHI assets and further strengthen our presence in the important Southeastern US and New England markets. We welcome the approximately 400 employees and the GCHI customers to Heidelberg Materials and look forward to the opportunities ahead.”

India: Shree Cement has commissioned its new grinding unit in Etah, Uttar Pradesh, with an investment of US$917m, funded through internal accruals. The plant’s location near railway lines allows for efficient transport of raw materials from Rajasthan, and the unit will distribute cement via roadways and a new highway-access road. It features ‘zero-waste’ operations, air-cooled screw compressors to reduce water usage and advanced filtration systems.

The plant will consume 5000t/day of fly ash from the adjacent Jawaharpur Thermal Power Plant. A solar power installation is planned within two to three years.

Tunisia: Votorantim Cimentos has completed the full sale of its assets in Tunisia to China-based Sinoma Cement. Votorantim Cimentos operates the Ciments de Jbel Oust plant in Tunisia. The transaction follows the fulfilment of precedent conditions, including regulatory approvals in China, Tunisia and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Delivery of the assets and financial settlement were also concluded.

El Salvador: Holcim El Salvador has announced the opening of a new distribution centre in San Miguel to strengthen its presence in the eastern region. The centre will provide easier access to Holcim’s Fuerte and Maestro cement from the ECOPlanet range. It also means that customers no longer need to travel to Metapán to purchase cement. The site accommodates dredges and small trucks for fast dispatch, with a minimum order of 40 bags.