Displaying items by tag: Holcim

Switzerland: A TEC has secured a contract to install a new ReduChlor chlorine bypass system at Holcim Schweiz’s Eclépens cement plant in Vaud. The supplier says that it will also fit a bypass dust handling system and upgrade the alternative fuel (AF) feeding system at the plant.

Costa Rica: Société Générale de Surveillance has awarded Holcim Costa Rica its Positive Packaging certificate for 100% packaging energy recovery in 2021. The company offset the 1500t carbon footprint of its packaging production for the year by sorting and co-processing 14,000t of paper as fuel. It sourced the paper from its customer cement bag return scheme and through municipal recycling services run by fellow Holcim subsidiary Geocycle Costa Rica.

Holcim Costa Rica sustainability coordinator Catalina Mora said “Waste management is a global challenge, so this project has a direct impact on our contribution as a company to the vision of sustainability for the country.”

There have been a couple of acquisitions of note this week in the north-western US and Holcim has picked up another building solutions company. To find out how the latter relates to former photography products producer Kodak, read on.

Starting with the north-western US, HeildelbergCement announced that it finalised the acquisition of Corliss Resources, a large family-owned aggregates and ready-mixed concrete company, for an undisclosed sum. The purchase includes major aggregate operations with sales volumes of about 2Mt/yr and reserves and resources of about 170Mt and four ready-mixed concrete (RMX) plants selling about 0.3Mm³/yr in the Greater Seattle area.

Global Cement normally sticks to cement but Holcim did something similar last week. It completed the acquisition of Cowden, another ready-mixed concrete and aggregate producer based in Bellingham in Washington state. This sale includes two RMX plants, eight aggregate facilities and a hauling fleet. Again, there was no word of the price.

Both the HeildelbergCement and Holcim purchases in the north-western US fit the selective bolt-on approach both companies have favoured in recent years. Looking specifically at the US, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that estimated production for consumption of construction sand and gravel grew by 7% year-on-year to 753Mt in the first nine months of 2021. Estimated total construction aggregate production rose by 5% to 1.9Gt. Within the country, Washington’s sales of construction aggregates increased by 16% to 33Mt, the third largest rate by state nationally. Meanwhile, cement shipments for the country grew by 4% to 79.9Mt although they actually fell by 3% in Washington. This compares to annual growth of 2.8% in cement consumption in 2021 that the Portland Cement Association (PCA) was forecasting for the Pacific region of the US in the middle of 2021.

Holcim has been snapping up aggregates or RMX assets in established markets throughout 2021. These include US-based Marshall Concrete Products in December 2021, US-based Utelite Corporation in September 2021, Germany-based Heinrich Teufel in July 2021, the aggregates business and two RMX plants from Greece-based Halyps in May 2021 and Edile Commerciale and Cemex Rhone Alpes in Italy and France in February 2021. At the same time HeidelbergCement was mainly divesting itself of aggregates and RMX assets. It sold Halyps to Holcim and later in the same month agreed to sell its US West region to Martin Marietta Materials for US$2.3bn. The deal included cement, aggregates, RMX and asphalt businesses in California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada. This covered two of its cement plants, with the exception of the 1.5Mt/yr Permanente cement plant in California, related distribution terminals, 17 active aggregates sites and several downstream operations. This makes the acquisition of new aggregate and RMX assets in Washington by HeildelbergCement interesting as we can see the company adjusting to its new market position. Although subsidiary Lehigh Hanson does not have a cement plant in the state it does operate a terminal in Seattle as well as other aggregate and RMX operations. North across the border in Canada though it still runs the integrated Delta Cement plant and terminal near Vancouver.

Returning to Holcim’s other acquisition this week brings us to Holcim’s target to expand the net sales of its Solutions & Products division to 30% of the group total by 2025 as part of its plans to decarbonise. This week it took one more step towards this goal with an agreement to buy France-based PRB Group, a manufacturer of coatings, insulations, adhesives and flooring systems. Global Cement Weekly has covered this topic a few times but, to recap, it started in January 2021 when Holcim announced it was buying roofing and building envelope producer Firestone Building Products for US$3.4bn. Various other related acquisitions have followed including an agreement to buy US-based Malarkey Roofing Products in December 2021.

How any of this relates to Kodak is as follows. Holcim’s predecessor Lafarge previously owned a major business away from cement, concrete and aggregates, namely gypsum. The gypsum wallboard business, like roofing, emits far less carbon than clinker production. In 2010 Lafarge’s gypsum business constituted nearly 9% of group revenue and it described itself as the third largest company in the sector worldwide. This was divested in the early 2010s in response to debts accrued by Lafarge’s acquisition of Orascom Cement in 2008. A decade later this decision appears to be the opposite of Holcim’s current strategy and indeed much of the cement sector’s current attempts to lower its carbon risk.

Kodak infamously filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after failing to move from analogue photography products to the digital market. The question cement company strategists should be asking themselves is whether their sector faces the same kind of disruption from the government and investment response to climate change. Lafarge apparently didn’t think so 10 years ago. Its successor Holcim does.

France: Holcim has entered into an agreement to acquire speciality building products supplier PRB Group. PRB Group produces coatings, insulations, adhesives and flooring systems. Holcim says that the company’s product range compliments its own and expands its reach in the high-growth repair and refurbishment market. PRB Group employs 700 people its five plants, 26 warehouses and its research and development centre. Its estimated net sales in 2022 are Euro340m.

Holcim chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said “We are off to a strong start to the new year, on our way to welcoming the PRB Group into the Holcim family. This is another exciting step in the expansion of solutions and products, advancing our Strategy 2025 – Accelerating Green Growth. I am highly impressed by the outstanding achievements of the Laurent family as well as by the expertise and passion of the entire PRB team. I look forward to warmly welcoming all employees into Holcim and to invest in our next era of growth together, with a continued focus on innovation, sustainability and branding.”

Switzerland/Germany: Holcim has announced the launch of a strategic partnership with inductive charging technology developer Magment to test and commercialise magnetisable concrete technology for use in roads. The technology will power and charge electric vehicles as they drive on roads fitted with Magment. Another possible application is in industrial floors, to charge robots and forklifts.

Holcim’s Global Innovation Center head Edelio Bermejo said: “At Holcim we are innovating to put concrete at the centre of our world’s transition to net-zero. With Magment, we are excited to be developing concrete solutions to accelerate electric mobility. Partnering with start-ups all over the world, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation to lead the way in sustainability.”

Zimbabwe: Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe appointed Geoffrey Ndugwa as chief executive officer (CEO) in mid-December 2021. He succeeds Precious Murena, who stepped down in September 2021.

Ndugwa was previously the CEO for Lafarge Malawi from late 2019. He brings experience in the cement industry spanning over 17 years working in various capacities across Africa. Some of his notable appointments include being the Commercial Director for Bamburi Group in Kenya, the General Manager Innovation and Marketing for Lafarge WAPCO Nigeria, the General Manager for Bamburi Special Products in Kenya, the Head of Business Support for Barclays Bank of Uganda and the Sales Manager for Hima Cement in Uganda.

Ndugwa holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University in the UK, a post graduate diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK and a Civil Engineering degree from the University of East London.

US: Holcim says that it has completed its acquisition of Washington-based ready-mix concrete and aggregates producer Cowden. The group said that the acquisition expands its footprint in the Pacific Northwest region.

Chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said “This acquisition is another step in our Strategy 2025 – Accelerating Green Growth plan to become the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions. We warmly welcome the more than 100 Cowden employees who join the Holcim family. With Cowden and its strong local roots we will strengthen our presence in this growing market and contribute to Holcim’s overall strategy to expand our range of low-carbon products and solutions.”

India: The nine-year-old son of an ACC executive has returned home after being kidnapped in Bargarh, Odisha. The child was playing locally on the evening of 2 January 2022 when two men on a motorcycle abducted him, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. They left a ransom note demanding around US$13,400 for his return. Following a search, police found the boy roaming the countryside shortly before midnight on the same day. They believe the assailants abandoned their plans after learning that the authorities had effectively prevented their escape by sealing the local area. The hunt for the suspects continues.

Germany: Holcim Germany has published environmental reports for 2020 focused on each of its cement plants. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim has decided to target its reports on local issues by issuing separate reports for each of its four integrated plants in the country, at Beckum, Höver, Lägerdorf and Dotternhausen respectively. Each report covers national developments for the sector and the company. Local data is then included as well as data on connected cement grinding and concrete plants. The reports can be downloaded from Holcim Germany’s website.

Malawi/Zambia: Huaxin Cement says it has completed its acquisition of Lafarge Zambia and Lafarge Cement Malawi. In late December 2021 the Chinese cement producer completed the equity delivery conditions for Lafarge Cement Malawi. This follows a similar process for Lafarge Zambia in late November 2021.

In June 2021 Huaxin Cement said it had agreed to spend US$150m on purchasing a 75% stake in Lafarge Zambia and US$10m on acquiring Pan African Cement from Lafarge Cement Malawi. The former operates two integrated cement plants in Zambia with a combined production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr. The latter operates a 0.25Mt/yr grinding plant at Blantyre in Malawi. Following the completion of the takeover Huaxin Cement now intends to increase its cement grinding capacity in Malawi by 0.25Mt/yr.