Displaying items by tag: Lafarge
Europe: CRH has been approved by the European Commission as a purchaser of assets in the European Union from Lafarge and Holcim. CRH has also received from the European Commission the clearance for the acquisition of these assets. These divestments remain subject to the completion of the merger between Lafarge and Holcim, including a successful public exchange offering to Lafarge's shareholders and approval by Holcim's shareholders.
In France Holcim and Lafarge are divesting all of Holcim's assets, except for its Altkirch cement plant and aggregates and ready-mix sites in the Haut-Rhin region, and a grinding station of Lafarge in Saint-Nazaire. Lafarge's assets on Reunion island are being sold except for its shareholding in Ciments de Bourbon. All of Lafarge's assets are also being sold in Germany and Romania. Lafarge Tarmac assets in the UK are being sold with the exception of its Cauldon and Cookstown plants and certain associated assets. In Hungary all of Holcim's operating assets are being divested and it is selling its assets in Slovakia.
Bestway Cement Limited takes over Lafarge Pakistan
23 April 2015Pakistan: Bestway Cement, a subsidiary of Bestway Group, has announced assumption of management control of Lafarge Pakistan. This follows the company's successful bid for 75.86% of Lafarge Pakistan's shares for US$329m in July 2014. Bestway Cement also acquired another 12.07% shares of the target company through the public offer process taking its shareholding in Lafarge Pakistan to 87.93%.
Acquisition of Lafarge Pakistan's 2.5Mt/yr cement plant located in Chakwal, means that Bestway Cement has now become the largest cement manufacturer in Pakistan with a total capacity of more than 8Mt/yr representing 18% of the entire industry's capacity in the country. Bestway intends to invest nearly US$30m in the acquired company including, among other things, an environmentally friendly waste heat recovery power plant.
What price for cement industry development in Cameroon?
22 April 2015Cameroon announced this week that it intends to ban imported cement to aid the sales from the new Dangote owned cement plant in the country. Readers should note that Dangote is a Nigerian-based company. Protective legislation such as this should come as no surprise given the rise of Nigeria's own cement industry and similar initiatives in that country. The difference here, however, is that the Cameroonian government is protecting investment by a foreign company rather than propping up any home grown concerns.
The new Dangote-run cement plant in Douala will start with a cement production capacity of 0.95Mt/yr with the intention to rise to 1.5Mt/yr in 2016. A meet-and-greet by company officials with local press in early April 2015 revealed that the company intends to snatch 30% of the local cement market in 2015 with prices primed to just undercut the other major producer.
What then of the country's two other integrated cement plants? Both have foreign ownership. Cimenteries du Cameroun, with a 1Mt/yr plant, is a subsidiary of France-based Lafarge. Ciments de L'Afrique, with a 0.5Mt/yr plant, is a Moroccan firm. Add the new 1.5Mt/yr Dangote cement plant and domestic production in Cameroon is anticipated to exceed local demand.
When this happens how will the Cameroonian government view the two non-Dangote producers who may well be importing clinker and other products into the country for their operations? If the experience of Nigeria is a model then a 'self-sufficiency' battle may ensue in the media. Alongside this the price of cement may well stay fairly stable despite any alleged 'gluts'. This week, for example, the Cement Producers Association of Nigeria has lobbied the President-elect of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to cut the price of cement by half. The hypocrisy during the Nigerian spat over imports was that Nigeria wanted (and has become) a cement exporter.
At the time this column asked how that could work if imports at the time were so much more competitive that they had to be banned at home. Then as now deals seem to mark the way. At that time, in early 2013, Liberia relaxed its tariffs on cement just as Dangote was building a new plant there. Now, in Cameroon, once again Dangote appears to be negotiating some form of preferential treatment.
At the root of these issues, Cameroon's citizens and industry want to build and develop their country. Cheaper cement will enable them to do this by pushing up per capita cement consumption. Protecting their domestic industry or those that have invested in the country may not necessarily lead to cheaper cement.
Lafarge appoints new director of Malogoszcz cement plant
22 April 2015Poland: Lafarge has appointed Jacek Patyk as new director of the Malogoszcz cement plant. He will replace Miroslaw Majchrowicz, who will be in charge of Lafarge's cement plant in Beocin, Serbia
US: Lafarge and Holcim have announced further details on the package of assets that they propose to divest in the US as part of their planned merger to create LafargeHolcim. The divestments include:
- Lafarge's 1.1Mt/yr Davenport cement plant in Iowa and seven terminals along the Mississippi River. The units will be sold to Summit Materials for US$450m in cash plus Summit's Bettendorf, Iowa cement terminal;
- Holcim terminals in Michigan and Illinois;
- Holcim Skyway 600,000t/yr slag grinding station in Illinois;
- Holcim Camden 700,000t/yr slag grinding station in New Jersey, along with a terminal in Massachusetts.
The proposed divestments have been negotiated with the staff of the Federal Trade Commission and remain subject to review and approval by the commission. The divestments will be completed subject to acceptance by the commission and to the closing of the merger between Holcim and Lafarge.
Holcim’s statement on Eurocement proposal
16 April 2015Europe: On 14 April 2015 Holcim announced the names of the candidates proposed to join the board of directors of LafargeHolcim after the merger. The board will comprise 14 members, seven each designated by Holcim and Lafarge.
After the announcement, Holcim received a proposal in writing of its 10.8% shareholder Eurocement to elect Filaret Galchev to the board of directors of LafargeHolcim. According to Holcim, the proposal came too late to be considered by the board of directors of Holcim for inclusion into the agenda of the Extraordinary General Meeting on 8 May 2015.
Eurocement proposes boss Galchev for LafargeHolcim board
16 April 2015Europe: Eurocement Holding AG, the second-largest shareholder in Holcim with a 10.8% stake, has said that it is nominating its owner Filaret Galchev for a position on the LafargeHolcim board. Galchev's name was not on a list of candidates for the post-merger board released earlier in April 2015, but Holcim's chairman had previously said that Holcim was open to giving Galchev a seat.
Lafarge Republic to hike output by 17% in 2015
16 April 2015Philippines: Lafarge Republic Inc expects to raise its cement output by 17% with the opening of new mills at its plants in Rizal and Bulacan. Lafarge Republic president Renato Sunico said that the company expects to produce >7Mt/yr of cement by the end of 2015, up from 6Mt/yr at present.
The US$20.1m grinding mill at the plant in Teresa, Rizal that was inaugurated in April 2015 is expected to produce 850,000t/yr of cement. This increases the plant's output to 2Mt/yr. The new mill will also contribute to Lafarge Republic's commitment to sustainability as it reduces the plant's energy consumption by 40%. A similar 850,000t/yr capacity mill will also be installed at the plant in Norzagaray in Bulacan by December 2015. "The reason why we put up a new mill in Teresa and why we want to put up a new mill in Norzagaray, is because we want to make sure that we can serve demand," said Sunico.
With regards to the LafargeHolcim merger, no consolidation of the two companies' operations in the Philippines is required as Holcim has expressed plans to purchase some of LafargeRepublic's assets such as Lafarge Iligan Inc, Lafarge Mindanao Inc, Lafarge Republic Aggregates Inc and the Star Terminal at the Harbour Centre in Manila. CRH has also been given rights to acquire the remaining assets of Lafarge Republic, including the plants in Rizal, Bulacan, Batangas and Cebu.
Future board of directors of LafargeHolcim nominated
14 April 2015Europe: In the framework of their proposed merger of equals, the boards of directors (BoD) of Holcim and Lafarge have nominated their candidates for the future BoD of LafargeHolcim, subject to closing of the transaction. The designated BoD will consist of 14 members due to be elected at the Holcim Extraordinary General Meeting on 8 May 2015.
The candidates are:
• Wolfgang Reitzle, Co-Chairman (currently Chairman of the BoD of Holcim);
• Bruno Lafont, Co-Chairman (currently Chairman of the BoD and Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge);
• Beat Hess, Vice-Chairman (currently Deputy Chairman of the BoD of Holcim);
• Bertrand Collomb (currently Honorary Chairman of Lafarge);
• Philippe Dauman (currently member of the BoD of Lafarge);
• Paul Desmarais Jr. (currently member of the BoD of Lafarge);
• Oscar Fanjul (currently Vice-Chairman of the BoD of Lafarge);
• Alexander Gut (currently member of the BoD of Holcim);
• Gérard Lamarche (currently member of the BoD of Lafarge);
• Adrian Loader (currently member of the BoD of Holcim);
• Nassef Sawiris (currently member of the BoD of Lafarge);
• Thomas Schmidheiny (currently member of the BoD of Holcim);
• Hanne Birgitte Breinbjerg Sørensen (currently member of the BoD of Holcim);
• Dieter Spälti (currently member of the BoD of Holcim).
Subject to the execution and completion of the merger project, Anne Wade and Jürg Oleas will resign from their office as members of the BoD at Holcim with effect as of the completion of the merger project.
Eric Olsen named as future CEO of LafargeHolcim
09 April 2015Europe: The boards of directors of Lafarge and Holcim have approved the appointment of Eric Olsen as future Chief Executive Officer of LafargeHolcim, to be in office as from the closing of the merger project.
At present Eric Olsen is Lafarge Executive Vice-President of Operations. He has been a member of the Group's Executive Committee since 2007. Aged 51, Olsen has dual American and French nationalities. He has extensive international experience and has held senior positions in operations and in the fields of finance, human resources and strategy.
Commenting on the appointment, Wolfgang Reitzle, Chairman of the Holcim Board and future co-Chairman of LafargeHolcim, said, "I very much welcome Eric Olsen as future CEO for LafargeHolcim. With his broad international experience and insights in key markets, he is best positioned to lead the combined company for the benefit of employees, shareholders and customers. Bruno Lafont and I will support Eric in creating a new joint culture that will be the key driver for our premier competitive position."
Lafarge Chairman and CEO, and future LafargeHolcim co-Chairman, Bruno Lafont, added, "I have every confidence in his ability to deliver the synergies announced and ensure the development and the success of LafargeHolcim."