Displaying items by tag: Italcementi

Just before the Christmas break one of the Global Cement editorial staff noticed how many solar projects have been popping up in the industry news of late. Looking at stories on the Global Cement website tagged with ‘solar’ five occurred in a six month period of 2017 out of a total of 13 since 2014. It’s not a rigorous study by any means but projects in the US, South Korea, India, Namibia and Jordan all suggest a trend.

All these new projects appear to be providing a supplementary energy source from photovoltaic (PV) solar plants that will be used to supply a portion of a cement plant’s electrical power requirements at a subsidised cost. Typically, these initiatives are preparing to supply 20 - 30% of a plant’s electricity over a couple of decades. These schemes are often supported by government subsidies to encourage decarbonised energy sources and a general trend in societies for so-called ‘greener’ energy sources in the wake of the Paris agreement on climate change.

Global Cement is familiar with this model of solar power in the cement industry from its use at the HeidelbergCement Hanson plant at Ketton in the UK. The project was realised by Armstrong Energy through local supplier Lark Energy and it provides around 13% of the cement plant’s electrical energy needs. Originally the array started off by supplying 10MW but this was later increased to 13MW in 2015. A key feature is that as part of the agreement with Armstrong Energy, Hanson receives 35% of the solar power generated for free and buys the remaining 65% at a fixed rate. Even at this rate the plant expects to save around Euro11m in energy costs over the lifetime of the solar array. In addition it will save 3500t/yr of CO2.

Most of the new solar projects announced in 2017 are of a similar scale and ambition to what Hanson Cement has done at Ketton. However, JSW Group’s plans are a magnitude larger. The Indian cement producer wants to build a 200MW solar plant next to its cement grinding plant at Salboni in West Bengal for US$124m. However, it has hedged its bets somewhat by saying that it might build a 36MW thermal power plant instead if its proposal fails.

LafargeHolcim and Italcementi have also experimented with concentrated solar power (CSP) plants for the cement industry. In 2007 LafargeHolcim and the Solar Technology Laboratory of the Paul Scherrer Institute and the Professorship of Renewable Energy Carriers at ETH Zurich started researching using high-temperature solar heat to upgrade low-grade carbonaceous feedstock to produce synthetic gas. The intention was to use the synthetic gas as a substitute for coal and petcoke in kilns.

Italcementi’s project at the Aït Baha plant in Morocco uses a CSP process that can be used with the plant’s waste heat recovery unit. Its moveable trough-style solar collectors follow the sun throughout the day to warm up a heat-transfer fluid during the day and store the heat in gravel beds overnight. In this way the CSP process allows for continuous operation over 24 hours. Before Italcementi’s acquisition by HeidelbergCement in 2016 the company had long-term ambitions to roll-out its CSP process across plants in the Middle East and North African region.

New battery technology of the kind backing the growing electric car industry may be further pushing the cement industry’s preference to PV over CSP power. The other renewable energy source slowly being built to support cement plants has been wind. Like PV it too suffers from cyclical disruptions to its power. Technological entrepreneur Elon Musk (of Tesla car fame) notably supplied the world's largest lithium-ion battery to Southern Australia to support one of its wind farms in late 2017. Around the same time local cement producer Adelaide Bighton announced in a separate deal that it had struck a deal to use wind power to part-power some of its facilities in the same region. At present it doesn’t look like solar power will be completely powering cement plants in the near future but perhaps a renewable fuels rate along similar lines to an alternative fuels rate might be a growing trend to watch.

The Global Cement CemPower conference on electrical power, including waste heat recovery, captive power, grinding optimisation and electrical energy efficiency, will return in January 2019.

Italy: HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Italcementi has completed its acquisition of Cementir Italia following approval by the Italian competition authority. The competition body gave clearance to the acquisition in November 2017 subject to certain conditions, including the divestment of some plants. Italcementi will reveal which units it intends to sell by mid-2018. The acquisition cost Euro315m.

“For Italcementi, the acquisition is a unique opportunity to grow and consolidate its position in the Italian market. We see strong recovery potential in Southern Europe and especially in Italy over the coming years. With this acquisition we are very well positioned to create value through synergies, efficient processes, and the offer of high-quality and innovative products,” said Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement.

Italcementi and Cementir Holding entered into an agreement to buy Cementir Italia, and its subsidies Cementir Sacci and Betontir, in mid-September 2017. Cementir Italia’s business includes five integrated cement plants and two cement grinding units with a total cement capacity of 5.5Mt/yr, as well as a network of terminals and concrete plants, all operating in Italy. Minimum annual run-rate cost synergies of Euro25m are expected to be achieved by 2020.

Italy: The Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has approved the purchase of Cementir Italia by HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Italcementi, subject to the sale of certain assets. They are: The Cagnano Aminterno (L'Aquila) cement plant and the terminal at Reggio Calabria, currently owned by Cementir; the Maddaloni (Caserta) plant, currently owned by Cementir; the production facility at Spoleto,, currently owned by Cementir, and the production plant at Salerno, currently owned by Italcementi.

The ICA says that the sales are necessary to prevent excessive concentration in the sector.

Italy: Appeals by Italian cement producers to the judiciary of Lazio against fines imposed by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has been deferred to June 2018. Italcementi, Buzzi Unicem, Colacem, Cementir, Sacci, Holcim, Cementirossi, Barbetti, Cementeria di Monselice, Cementizillo, Calme, Moccia, TSC and the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) were penalised more than Euro184m in July 2017 for allegedly coordinating sales prices and agreeing market share from June 2011 to January 2016, according to the ANSA news agency. The majority of the fine was levied on Italcementi and Buzzi Unicem at around Euro84m and Euro60m respectively. Itacementi started appealing against the sanctions in August 2017.

We said to expect more consolidation in Italy. Well, today it happened. Last time Global Cement Weekly covered the country, in June 2017, it reported upon the Buzzi Unicem deal to buy Cementizillo. Today, HeidelbergCement announced that it is going to buy Cementir Italia from Cementir Holding for Euro315m.

Our first reaction is that the deal seems cheap. The agreement covers five integrated cement plants and two cement grinding plants with a total capacity of 5.5Mt/yr, as well as the network of terminals and concrete plants. HeidelbergCement is buying all of this for Euro57/t. This suggests a downward trend given that Buzzi Unicem paid Euro80/t for the Cementizillo units in mid-2017. Although, Cementir only paid Euro38/t when it purchased Sacci in mid-2016.

Cementir’s acquisition of Compagnie des Ciments Belges (CCB) boosted its sales revenue, volume and operating profit in 2016 and in the first half of 2017. However these figures suffered on a like-for-like basis due to falling revenue in Turkey and Malaysia. Overall revenue rose in Italy for the company in 2016 due to a growing ready mix concrete business. However, with this removed, its sales revenue would have fallen by 14% year-on-year due to a 13.5% decrease in the sales volumes of cement.

Cementir Holding chief executive officer (CEO) Francesco Caltagirone has framed the sale of Cementir Italia in terms of improved financial leverage. He’s placed it at close to 0.5x by the end of 2018. This, he says, will allow the group to “…take the opportunities arising in the future, as it has happened during the last twelve months.” By this he likely means the purchase of CCB. Given the low cost for what Cementir picked up the bankrupt Sacci, it makes one wonder whether their plan all along was to leave Italy and they just happened to pick up a bargain along the way.

Meanwhile, HeidelbergCement has framed its acquisition in terms of preparing its presence in the Italian market for the future when the recovery kicks in. The usual talk about synergies is also there and Italian workers for both Italcementi and Cementir Italia will be wondering what this means for their jobs. Given that the group’s overall sales have struggled to grow so far in 2017, the company may be telling the truth when it says it’s banking on the medium to long term in Italy. After all, in its half-year report for 2017, it described the Italian economy as subdued and reported cement sales volumes as ‘stable.’

Once the deal completes, Cementir Holding will be an Italian-based cement company without any production facilities in Italy. Unless the group is planning to re-enter its home market at a later date, it does suggest a certain lack of confidence at home. Let’s see if HeidelbergCement has the nerve to stick it out.

Italy: HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Italcementi has agreed to buy Cementir Italia from Cementir Holding for Euro315m. The acquisition includes all of Cementir Italia’s cement and concrete businesses including the subsidiaries Cementir Sacci and Betontir. The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2018 subject to approval by the Italian Antitrust Authority.

“Cementir Italia provides an ideal industrial and geographic fit that significantly improves our nationwide presence in Italy,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. “For Italcementi, the acquisition is a unique opportunity to grow and consolidate its position in the Italian market. We see strong recovery potential in southern Europe and especially in Italy over the coming years. With this acquisition we are very well positioned to create value through synergies, efficient processes, and the offer of high-quality and innovative products. The acquisition is part of our strategy of disciplined growth and increasing shareholder returns.”

Cementir Italia’s business includes five integrated cement plants and two cement grinding plants with a total capacity of 5.5Mt/yr, as well as the network of terminals and concrete plants, all operating in Italy. Italcementi will fully integrate the operations into its current network. Minimum annual run-rate cost synergies of Euro25m are expected to be achieved by 2020. The acquisition will be financed with free cash flow. HeidelbergCement intends to pay for the purchase with the disposal of ‘non-core’ assets.

Italy: Italcementi, part of Germany’s HeidelbergCement, has said that charges brought by Italy's antitrust authority are unfounded and it would appeal against the sanction at the Lazio court. Italcementi, along with other leading cement producers, is accused by the regulator of allegedly breaching competition rules for the period from June 2011 to January 2016.

In particular, Italcementi has said that it believes that the commercial decisions taken by the previous management to propose nominal price increases to its customers were dictated by autonomous, solid and logical business motives.

Italcementi also considers that the Euro84m fine, one of the highest ever imposed by the authority, is completely disproportionate to the turnover generated by the company in Italy.

Germany: Bernd Scheifele, the chairman of HeidelbergCement, has admitted that his company needs to take action to improve its overall sustainability management following its acquisition of Italcementi. Following the purchase both its specific gross CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious material and its alternative fuels mix fell. However, specific emissions of NO_x and SO_x fell, although specific dust emissions rose in the reporting period. The cement producer also improved accident frequency despite increasing its workforce to 15,781 in 2016 from 9560 in 2015.

Cyprus: The Statistical Service of Cyprus has stopped reporting data on the cement industry following a request by a local cement producer. It has announced that to safeguard ‘statistical confidentiality’ it will no longer disseminate monthly data for the production, sales and exports of cement and clinker. The department of the Republic of Cyprus apologised to the users of the data stating that it is obliged, under the provisions of the Statistics Law of 2000, to respect the request.

The island’s main cement producer is Vassiliko Cement, which operates an integrated plant in the southern Republic of Cyprus. Italy’s Italacementi owned a minority stake in the company before its takeover by HeidelbergCement. LafargeHolcim’s subsidiary Boğaz Endüstri ve Madencilik runs a cement grinding plant in the so-called northern Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Buzzi Unicem strengthened its position in Italy this week with a deal to buy Cementizillo. The agreement included Zillo Group’s two integrated cement plants at Fanna and Este in the northeast with a combined production capacity of 1.4Mt/yr. The sale price appeared to be low at a maximum of Euro104m plus 450,000 shares in Buzzi. However, the interesting part of this transaction is a variable portion of zero to Euro21m based on the average price of cement achieved by Buzzi in Italy between 2017 and 2020.

Buzzi hammered home the point in its acquisition statement that the local cement sector suffers from, “…significant surplus of production capacity coupled with permanently reduced sales volumes.” No doubt this was a prominent part of the deal negotiations given that, with a rough calculation of Euro10m for the shares, Buzzi has picked up the new cement production capacity at about Euro80/t or US$91/t. In July 2016 this column commented that Cementir’s purchase of Compagnie des Ciments Belges’ assets for Euro125/t seemed fairly low globally. Yet even this seemed high when Cementir picked up Sacci’s cement business, including five cement plants, for Euro125m or Euro38/t. Although it should be noted that Sacci was bankrupt at the time and being run by its liquidators.

As ever all these transactions were complicated by assets other than clinker production lines but the problems facing the Italian cement industry are clear. Following on from last week’s column about changing patterns of cement consumption in southern Europe, the cement intensity of the construction sectors in Italy and Spain has dropped significantly since 2000 suggesting that the mode of construction has moved from new projects to patching up old ones. Throw in the financial crash in 2007 and, strikingly, cement production in Italy fell from 49Mt in 2006 to 21Mt in 2015. Anecdotally, looking through the Global Cement Directory 2017, 13 of the country’s 56 integrated cement plants were listed as idled, mothballed or closed at the start of the year. Cembureau, the European Cement Association, reckons that consumption fell year-on-year by 4.7% in 2016 with a further drop of 3% forecast for 2017. Surprisingly though estimates from the Associazione Italiana Tecnico Economica Cemento (AITEC) suggest that cement exports have not increased dramatically since 2007. Since hitting a low of 1.6Mt in 2011 they rose to 2.5Mt, a similar figure to that of before the crash.

This kind of environment suggests consolidation and that’s exactly what has happened with Buzzi buying Cementizillo this week, Germany’s HeidelbergCement’s purchase of Italcementi in 2016 and Cementir’s purchase of Sacci in the same year. Earlier in 2014 Austria's Wietersdorfer & Peggauer picked up a plant in Cadola from Buzzi.

Financially, the story is in line with what the declining production and consumption figures suggest. Buzzi reported that its net sales in Italy fell by 16% to Euro375m in 2016 and Cementir said that its sales would have fallen by 14% had it not benefitted from the new revenue from Sacci.

HeidelbergCement presented Italy as a territory ripe for ‘substantial’ recovery potential at a shareholders event in the autumn of 2016. It highlighted opportunities in further rationalisation of the industry, recovery in cement consumption from a low base and optimisation of the country’s distribution and depot network. It probably will not be publicly released but if Buzzi Unicem pays out the full amount of its variable payment to Cementizillo then the industry may be picking up again. Until then expect more acquisitions.