Displaying items by tag: India

India: The Oriental Bank of Commerce has raised allegations of ‘mismanagement and siphoning of public money’ at Calcom Cement in a letter sent to its lenders, according to Business Line. The bank was quoting allegations made by Bawri Group.

Together Bawri Group and Dalmia Bharat Group run Calcom Cement, a 2.1Mt/yr cement plant in Assam, as a joint venture. Dalmia Bharat owns a 76% stake in Calcom through its subsidiary Dalmia Cement Bharat.

The letter, dated 14 January 2016, was addressed to Axis Bank, lead lender in a consortium of lenders to Calcom. It stated that, “affairs at CCIL (Calcom) are not being managed in a prudent manner and (there have been) several financial irregularities including fund diversion through circular transactions.” Axis Bank declined to comment on an individual account. Dalmia Bharat said it would not speak to the media, pending arbitration proceedings with the Bawri group.

Nepal: The Hetauda Cement plant has started producing cement again following the lifting of an unofficial fuel blockade by India. The plant was shut after it could not import coal from India in the autumn of 2016. Hetauda resumed production on 11 February 2016, according to the Katmandu Post. Factory officials say the plant lost US$0.9m during the enforced closure.

India: HeidelbergCement India has successfully commissioned a waste heat recovery unit at its Narsingarh cement plant in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh. The new power plant will use waste heat generated by the clinker lines at the plant. It will be able to generate up to 12MW of power from this source.

India: ACC Ltd has reported a 69% drop in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ending 31 December 2015, on account of lower income from avenues other than its core business.

The consolidated net profit was US$14.9m compared to U$47.8m in 2014. Net sales rose by 3% to US$417.3m from US$404m in 2014. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 9% to US$41.0m from US$37.7m in 2014.

India: Martin Kriegner will be appointed Head of India for LafargeHolcim, effective on 1 March 2016. He will report to Eric Olsen, Group CEO and succeed Bernard Terver who has decided to retire. Kriegner is currently the Area Manager Central Europe,

Kriegner, an Austrian national, joined LafargeHolcim in 1990 and has previously held several senior leadership positions in the Group, including CFO and CEO of the Group operations in Austria as well as Head of Lafarge India and Regional President Cement for Asia. He graduated from Vienna University with a Doctorate in Law and obtained an MBA at the University of Economics in Vienna.

Bernard Terver joined the Group in 1994 and became member of the Senior Management in 2012. He was responsible for Ambuja Cements and ACC in India since 2014 and was appointed Head of India at LafargeHolcim following the merger.

India: Production has resumed at the 3Mt/yr JK Cement plant in Baglakot, Karnataka. It was temporality stopped following the sudden caving-in of the clinker silo roof in January 2016.

"Production of clinker and cement has resumed with operation of the kiln by making an alternate arrangement using two belts conveyors for feeding the clinker directly to the cement mill," said the company in a statement.

While production was suspended the company has been supplying the market using supplies at its depots. Normal levels of production are expected to be achieved by late February 2016. The clinker silo is expected to be repaired within six months.

India: Reliance Infrastructure has sold its cement business to Birla Corporation for US$709m to lower its debt. The transaction is subject to approval of the Competition Commission of India and other applicable regulatory approvals," the company said.

"Reliance Infrastructure today announced the signing of share purchase agreement with Birla Corporation Limited, the flagship Company of the M P Birla Group, in relation to 100% sale of its subsidiary RCCPL," the company said in a statement. It added that SBI Capital Markets acted as the financial advisors to Reliance Infrastructure for this transaction.

Reliance Infrastructure has an integrated cement production capacity of 5.08Mt/yr at Maihar, Madhya Pradesh and Kundanganj, Uttar Pradesh and a 0.5Mt/yr cement grinding unit at Butibori, Maharashtra. The deal was valued at US$140/t of cement production capacity.

India: Kakatiya Cement Sugar & Industries has appointed Shri P Veeraiah as its chairman and managing director effective from 3 February 2016. He was previously the joint managing director of the company. The appointment has been made following the death of Shri P Venkateswarlu. It is subject to the approval of shareholders, which is expected to be obtained at the next annual general meeting.

India: LafargeHolcim has confirmed that it is considering selling its subsidiary Lafarge India. The sale will require the approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) as an alternate remedy for the merger of the Group's legacy companies. Lafarge India has a cement production capacity of 11Mt/yr.

The announcement follows a regulatory filing by Birla Corporation stating that is considering taking legal action against LafargeHolcim for stopping a previous deal. However, LafargeHolcim has not said why it terminated the deal with Birla Corporation.

Originally LafargeHolcim was in discussion with Birla Corporation for the sale of the Jojobera and Sonadih cement plants in Eastern India that was previously announced. Both plants had a combined cement production capacity of 5.1Mt/yr. Due to the current regulatory issues relating to the transfer of mining rights captive and critical to the two plants, LafargeHolcim was obliged to submit an alternate remedy to the CCI to ensure compliance with the order.

LafargeHolcim now says that an 'alternate remedy' is under consideration by the CCI.

India: Birla Corporation said it will take legal action against Lafarge India over the firm's 'inability' to go ahead with the deal to sell its Jojobera and Sonadih cement plants. In August 2015 both firms signed an agreement, through which Birla Corporation was to acquire Jojobera and Sonadih cement businesses from Lafarge India for US$734m.

"Lafarge India has since informed its inability to proceed with the agreement. The company has since discussed the matter with its legal advisors and has decided not to accept its contention and is in the process of taking appropriate legal measures in consultation with lawyers," said Birla Corporation in a regulatory filing. The firm did not specify reasons behind Lafarge India expressing its inability to complete the deal.

Birla Corp was to acquire Lafarge India's cement business, which comprises an integrated cement unit at Sonadih, Chhattisgarh, a cement grinding unit at Jojobera, Jharkhand along with Concreto and PSC brands. The acquisition would have added an additional cement capacity of 5.15Mt/yr to Birla Corp and would have helped the firm consolidate its position in the eastern India cement market. The company has a total operational cement capacity of about 10Mt/yr with plants in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.