Displaying items by tag: Nesher
CRH named in Euro34bn lawsuit by Palestinian activists
31 March 2016Ireland: CRH has been named in a Euro34bn lawsuit file in Washington DC launched by Palestinian activists against a group of businesses operating in Israel. The activists who are trying to sue various groups with connections to Israel for allegedly ‘profiteering’ from the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, according to the Irish Times.
The Irish building materials company sold its 25% stake in Mashav, which owned the Israeli cement producer Nesher, in December 2015. However, the lawsuit is targeting CRH over its past co-ownership. The lawsuit accuses Nesher of supplying concrete for the foundations of Jewish settlements and for building barriers in the West Bank and for allegedly extracting minerals from Palestinian territory.
CRH may sell controversial Israeli company
24 March 2014Israel: CRH may end its involvement with a hugely controversial Israeli company whose cement has been used to manufacture barriers for a widely condemned security wall that separates Israel from the Palestinian West Bank.
CRH owns a 25% stake in Israel's only cement producer, Mashav and for years has drawn fire from shareholders and international pressure groups for retaining its holding in the company, which it bought in 2001. Mashav is the holding company for a firm called Nesher Cement, the cement of which has been used to construct the wall dividing the West Bank from Israel. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is among the groups that has put pressure on CRH to divest its stake in Mashav and has previously staged protests at CRH annual general meetings.
CRH has previously pointed out that, while it owns a 25% stake in Mashav, the group isn't directly involved in the production of concrete products in Israel. The company has also insisted that Mashav can't discriminate against who it sells concrete to and that the Israeli firm's concrete has also been sold to the Palestinian Authority.
But the new chief executive of CRH, Albert Manifold, has been spearheading a sweeping review of CRH's businesses that could see a number of them, including its stake in Mashav, being put up for sale. In February 2014 Manifold said that CRH has so far identified 45 businesses that will be put on the block. CRH finance director Maeve Carton said that the units have been singled out for not meeting 'Those criteria we have of being able to deliver improved margins and growth into the future.'
In a detailed annual report, CRH said that 34 of the 45 businesses that it's planning to sell are in Europe and another 11 in the US. CRH also said that it wrote off a total of Euro105m from the value of a 50% stake in Turkey's Denizli Cement and its 25% stake in Mashav. That has fuelled speculation that CRH may also seek to offload its holding in Mashav. A spokesman for the company declined to comment. CRH has not identified any specific businesses that it plans to sell as part of its review.
Siemens to supply turbine to Nesher Cement
12 June 2013Israel: Siemens Turbine will supply a combined cycle steam turbine to Nesher Cement's Ramla Plant in Israel. The company will supply an SST-300 industrial turbine with the output of 23.75MW to the plant, which is located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The turbine has been completed recently and is ready for transport from Brno, Czech Republic to Israel.
Nesher Cement CEO Joel Feldschuh to leave at end of 2013
28 November 2012Israel: Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises CEO Joel Feldschuh has announced to shareholders that he will leave the company on 31 December 2013. Feldschuh has spent nine years in post at Nesher.
"Over the past nine years Nesher met all the economy's needs for high-quality products at competitive and fair prices and most of all, at a high level of service," said Feldschuh.
Nesher Cement to benefit from refuse derived fuels
31 October 2012Israel: The Israeli Interior Ministry has approved the construction of a waste recycling plant with a capacity of 1500t/day next to the former Hiriya rubbish dump, southeast of Tel Aviv.
The project is a joint venture between the regional Dan Municipal Sanitation Association and Nesher Cement. Nesher Cement plans to use refuse derived fuels at its Ramle plant, all other materials will be recycled. The Environment and Finance ministries have also announced tenders to build another similar facility in the area.
Nesher Cement power plant to receive US$90m upgrade
29 August 2012Israel: Mashav Initiation and Development, a subsidiary of Clal Industries and Investments, will invest US$90m to expand its private power station, which supplies electricity to Nesher Cement Enterprises. The power station's production capacity will be initially expanded by 50MW and then by 70MW.
Clal Industries owns 75% of Mashav, and Ireland's CRH owns 25%. Mashav's 50MW natural gas-driven power station received a 20 year independent power producer license in 2010. The expansion, scheduled for mid-2014, will increase production capacity to 100MW and then to 120MW in the second half of that year. The surplus power not used by Nesher will be sold to private customers.
Clal Industries' board of directors has instructed Mashav's management to secure financing for the project from external sources.