Displaying items by tag: Legal

Pakistan: The Peshawar High Court has temporarily ordered Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGP) not to charge Lucky Cement a higher price for gas. The cement producer took legal action against the supplier, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and the Ministry of Energy following a price increase of 142% in October 2018, according to the Dawn newspaper. The court has asked OGRA to respond to questions about the price rise. Lawyers on behalf of the Lucky Cement argue that the increase in the cost of gas was taken without following the normal legal requirements.

Pakistan: The Supreme Court has appointed a special committee to visit the DG Khan’s cement plant in Chakwal to investigate how it stores water. The committee will report back to the court about the capacity of the reservoirs built by the plant as well as whether they were filled by extracting water from the aquifer or from rainwater, according to the Dawn newspaper. The committee will also take samples of water from the reservoirs.

The court has been looking into how DG Khan and Bestway Cement set up cement plants in the Potohar region related to water issues at the nearby Katas Raj Temples. Previously, the court was told that the DG Khan Cement was only operating tube-wells for domestic use by its workers but a witness alleged that the plants were extracting water for industrial use from the water table.

India: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has approved a revised bid by UltraTech Cement for Binani Cement. The tribunal approved UltraTech’s resolution plan and said that the plan submitted by Rajputana Properties, a subsidiary of rival bidder Dalmia Bharat group, was ‘discriminatory’ against some financial creditors, according to the Press Trust of India. In July 2018 the Supreme Court transferred all matters related to corporate insolvency resolution process of Binani Cement to the NCLAT Kolkata.

Pakistan: The Supreme Court has restrained the Punjab Anti-Corruption Department from launching criminal proceedings against the heads of DG Khan and Bestway Cement. The decision was made following a review petition filed by DG Khan Cement, according to the Statesman newspaper. It follows an investigation initiated by the Supreme Court to look into the setting up of cement plants in the Potohar region. The probe alleges government and corporate corruption.

Jordan: Jordan Cement Company is in a legal dispute with local landowners over land ‘illegally’ acquired near its Fuheis plant. The plaintiffs argue that forgery was used by the company in acquiring land, according to Roya TV. The subsidiary of Switzerland’s LafargeHolcim operates two integrated plants, at Fuheis and Rashadiyah.

As ever, there have been plenty of news stories from Pakistan recently covering the on-going fallout of the water shortage at the Katas Raj Temples in Chakwal, Punjab and an update on new production line at Maple Leaf Cement’s Iskanderabad plant. The two stories present two sides to the furious pace of the local industry and the potential price this growth might entail.

Graph 1: Cement despatches in Pakistan, 2012 - 2017. Source: All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association.

Graph 1 above sets the scene with an industry that has seen total despatches grow by nearly 30% to 42.8Mt in 2017 from 33.1Mt in 2012. About four-fifths of this is based in the north of the county. The big sub-story alongside this is that exports have fallen by half to 4.2Mt in 2017 from a high of 8.3Mt in 2013. The cause of this appears to be a decline in the Afghan market and a similar drop in waterborne clinker exports. Given the higher proportion of exports to the southern market this change has likely hit the industry in south harder despite overall depatches there rising. So far in 2018 similar trends are holding, except for exports, where the clinker export market has rallied significantly in the south.

The background to all this growth domestically is Chinese investment in the form of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). CPEC-related project include integrated road infrastructure, the modernisation of railways and the development of the city of Gwadar and its related infrastructure. In addition the local Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) is also having an effect and demographic pressures, such as a housing shortage, are also expected to support the construction market.

Data from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) placed cement production capacity at 54Mt/yr in September 2018 compared to 66Mt/yr in the Global Cement Directory 2018, which includes new capacity being built. This compares to around 10Mt/yr in the 1995 local financial year to an estimated 73Mt/yr by the State Bank of Pakistan in its third quarter report for 2017 - 2018. This rapid growth can be seen in recent stories such as the Iskanderabad plant expansion, Flying Cement’s mill order from Loesche, Kohat Cement’s mill order also from Loesche, a new solar plant at Fauji Cement at its Attock plant and the commissioning of DG Khan’s new plant at Hub. These stories are all from the last three months! The State Bank of Pakistan estimated that 11 producers hare now investing US$2.12bn on capacity expansions to add over 23Mt/yr by the end of the 2021 financial year.

One potential price for all of this growth is currently being illustrated in the ongoing legal wrangles about the use of water by cement plants near the Katas Raj Temples. What started as an investigation into why water levels were dropping at a pond at a Hindu heritage site seems to have transformed into a full scale inquiry into alleged corruption by local government around the setting up of cement plants. A report by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment Lahore to the Supreme Court has found irregularities committed by government departments in connection to the setting up of cement plants by DG Khan and Bestway Cement in Chakwal. It seems unlikely at this stage that this inquiry will cause too much trouble for the local cement industry but it will certainly make it more complicated and potentially more expensive to st up new plants in the future.

Read Global Cement’s plant report from the DG Khan’s Khairpur cement plant in Chakwal

India: The Calcutta High Court has rejected a plea for an injunction by the owners of MP Birla Group into part of the acquisition process of Century Textiles and Industries by UltraTech Cement. The Lodha family holds a significant stake in Pilani Investment and Industries Corporation, which, in turn, owns a stake in Century Textiles and Industries, according to the Daily News and Analysis newspaper. It had argued that the demerger process as part of the sale of Century Textiles and Industries would seriously affect the remaining parts of its business. UltraTech Cement received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the acquisition of the cement business of Century Textiles and Industries in late August 2018.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has lost a trademark dispute over its Luz Verde brand. The Superintendent of Industry and Commerce (SIC) has authorised wholesale travel agent Luz Verde Representaciones to register its Luz Verde brand despite the objections of the cement producer, according to La República newspaper. SIC considered the opposition of Cementos Argos invalid as the companies operate in different business sectors. The company had previously lost another legal conflict with Energy Evolution Colombia for the registration of a motto including the element Luz Verde.

France/Syria: A judicial investigation has seized Euro4m from former Lafarge executives, including former chief executive officer (CEO) Bruno Lafont, as part of a probe into the company’s conduct in Syria. Sources quoted by the Agence France Presse said that Euro2.5m was confiscated from Lafont’s leaving package of Euro8.4m as Lafarge merged with Holcim to form LafargeHolcim. Funds were also taken from Bruno Pescheux and Frédéric Jolibois, the former directors of Lafarge Cement Syria, and from Christian Herrault, a dormer deputy general regional manager with overview of Syria.

Lafarge SA, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, has been placed under judicial investigation over its actions in Syria between 2011 and 2014. It has been accused of complicity in crimes against humanity and financing terrorism. A panel of three judges in Paris has ordered Lafarge to pay over Euro30m as a security deposit ahead of the trial. Eight former executives, including Lafont, have been charged in connection to the investigation.

Nigeria: The Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) says it has received clearance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for its proposed merger with Kalambaina Cement. Following the merger all of the assets, liabilities, licences and undertakings will be taken over by the CCNN, according to the Punch newspaper. The completion of the proposed merger is subject to the approval of the shareholders of the CCNN and Kalambaina Cement and the final regulatory approvals from SEC, the NSE, Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Federal High Court.