Displaying items by tag: Sale

Kenya: An attempt by the East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) to sell some of its land has been threatened by local residents. 5000 local residents say that the disputed land belongs to them, according to the Standard newspaper. They hold a title deed to the land and a court halted construction work on the site in February 2019. The residents also claim that they have been subject to excessive force by the police.

The EAPCC is selling land in a government-backed arrangement to try and clear its debts after it made a loss in 2018. The land has been set aside for Kenya Railways to build a rail container terminal. The railway operator has already made a US$12m down payment on the property. The cement producer maintains that it owns the land. However, the government has agreed to negotiate with the protestors.

Philippines: Companies including Japan’s Taiheyo Cement, Thailand’s Siam City Cement and China’s Anhui Cement have been linked to the sale of Holcim Philippines. Local companies include Eagle Cement and DMCI Group, according to sources quoted by the Philippine Star. Non-binding offers were have been submitted in February 2019 but it is not clear which companies were involved. However, no agreement has been reached on price yet. LafargeHolcim has reportedly looking at selling its business in the Philippines as part of a review of its operations in South-East Asia.

India: The Cement Corporation of India has started the sale of its non-operating Nayagaon plant in Madhya Pradesh. Prospective bidders are invited to submit an expression of interest by mid-April 2019, according to the Press Trust of India. The Nayagaon plant was originally shut in 1997 but its mining lease remains valid for two quarries until early 2024.

The state-owned cement producer operates plants at Rajban in Himachal Pradesh, Bokajan in Assam and Tandur in Telangana. It has closed down integrated plants at Mandhar in Chhattisgarh, Kurkunta in Karnataka, Akaltara in Chhattisgarh, Charkhi and Dadri in Haryana, Adilabad in Telangana and Nayagaon in Madhya Pradesh. It has also closed grinding plants at Delhi and Bhatinda in Punjab. The company is planning to sell its non-operating plants first before divesting the operational units.

Kenya: ARM Cement has extended its bidding period to mid-march 2019 following requests by potential buyers. Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which took over the cement producer in August 2018, originally set the deadline to the end of February 2019, according to the Business Daily newspaper. Bidders have asked for a longer period to complete due diligence tests and decide what they think the value of the company is.

14 companies have already made non-binding bids for the cement producer. These will later be shortlisted before a winning bidder is selected. No bidders have publicly been announced but Nigeria’s Dangote Cement and Oman’s Raysut Cement are believed to be interested, according to local media.

Europe: Cemex has signed a deal to sell its assets in the Baltic and Nordic countries to Germany’s Schwenk for Euro340m. The transaction is expected to complete within the first quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approval.

The Baltic assets being divested consist of one 1.7Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Broceni, Latvia, as well as four aggregates quarries, two cement quarries, six ready-mix concrete plants, one marine terminal and one land distribution terminal in that country. The assets divested also include Cemex’s approximate 38% indirect interest in a 1.8Mt/yr cement plant in Akmene in Lithuania. In addition, the exports business to Estonia is also included as part of the divestment.

The Nordic assets being divested consist of three import terminals in Finland, four import terminals in Norway and four import terminals in Sweden.

UAE: Arkan Building Materials has sold the closed Emirates Cement plant for US$13.6m, according to Mubasher. The unit was originally closed in late 2016 on a temporary basis due to rising gas and electricity costs. It later decided to permanently close the plant. The company continues to run its Al Ain Cement plant.

Tunisia: Al Karama Holding says that that sale of a 50.5% share in Carthage Cement has been delayed following the latest round of bidding. The latest round of bids was extended to 7 December 2018 from 6 July 2018, according to local media. However, none of the pre-selected bidders were able to submit a qualifying financial offer. Some of the investors have contacted Al Karama Holding to confirm their interest in the purchase subject to certain conditions.

China: BBMG has agreed to sell its stake in seven cement companies to Jidong Cement for US$227m. It has also arranged with Jidong Cement to contribute nearly US$150m into BBMG Jidong Cement (Tangshan), a joint venture owned by the two companies. Both companies will also inject capital into each other’s subsidiaries. BBMG owns a 7% stake in Jidong Cement. Both agreements have been set up to resolve the issues of competing business between BBMG and Jidong Cement.

The seven companies that BBMG is selling to Jidong Cement are Zhuoquan BBMG Cement, Lingchuan BBMG Cement, Baoding Taihang Heyi Cement, Handan Shexian BBMG Cement, Qinyang BBMG Cement, Lanxian BBMG Cement and Xuanhua BBMG Cement. BBMG owns a 100% or majority stake in each of these companies.

Kenya: The East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has received backing from the Ministry of Trade to sell unused land to pay off debts and commitments of nearly US$150m. The ministry said that a cabinet memorandum is ready to grant the company approval to sell off its assets, according to the Business Daily newspaper. The cement producer says it needs the funds to pay employee benefits, pay suppliers, pay off debts to companies including the Kenya Commercial Bank and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency and refurbish its plant. The cement producer says it wants to spend US$19.5m towards refurbishing its plant in a one-to-two month shutdown. At present the unit is operating at a 50% capacity utilisation rate.

Tunisia: Carthage Cement’s loss has grown to US$16.2m in the first half of 2018 compared to US$9.6m in the same period in 2017. The cement producer has managed to increase its revenue but mounting operating costs have outpaced this, according to African Manager. Its turnover grew by 25.6% year-on-year to US$32.9m but operating expenses rose by 38.5% to US$47.6m. A dispute between management and staff also led to a production suspension in the first half of 2018.

A majority stake in the cement producer remains on sale following a call for expressions of interest in early 2018. The latest round of bidding is open until early December 2018.