Displaying items by tag: Shares

Cameroon: The share capital of Medcem Cameroon has risen to US$689,000 from US$17,200, the company has revealed in a statement. However, the cement grinding plant has not produced cement for the local market in at least six months according to the Agence de Presse Africaine. Medcem’s production stopped after several shutdowns earlier in 2015 and a period of testing in late August 2015.

Medcem Cameroon, a subsidiary of Turkish company Eren Holding, has a cement production capacity of 0.6Mt/yr. Les Cimenteries du Cameroun (CIMENCAM), a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, and Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF), part of the Moroccan Addoha group, both operate integrated cement plants in the country. Dangote inaugurated a cement grinding plant in August 2015 and Mira is also planning to build a grinding plant in the country.

Kenya: ARM Cement expects to conclude talks on a foreign investor taking a US$140m stake in the company by 15 April 2016. The investment is expected to be concluded by June 2016, the Kenyan cement producer said in a statement sent to the Nairobi stock exchange and reported by Mist News.

“The board and management of the company believe that the investment would, if made, strengthen the financial position of the company as it executes its regional growth plans,” said ARM Cement in the statement.

ARM Cement announced in December 2015 that it was in talks with a potential investor. India’s UltraTech Cement was linked to the deal in January 2016. ARM Cement was said to be facing ‘liquidity challenges’ by the Capital Markets Authority in March 2016. The Kenyan cement producer has previously said that the foreign investment will be in the form of a seven-year convertible preference shares. This is not expected to reach the threshold requiring a mandatory takeover bid on conversion to equity in the company. Funds from the investment of up to US$110m will be used to repay company debt. The rest of the balance will go towards expanding the company’s cement business.

India: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved Anjani Portland Cement for a rights issue to raise US$11.3m. The proceeds from the offering will be used to build a 16MW coal-based captive power plant at one of the company's cement plants.

SEBI received draft documents for the rights issue on 30 December 2015 and issued its 'observations' on 23 March 2016. Issuance of 'observations' by SEBI is considered as a clearance to the issuer to go ahead with the share issues.

South Korea: Eugene Group intends to increase its stake in Tongyang up to 25%. The South Korean conglomerate has expressed its interest in leading Tongyang, including its cement subsidiary, according to Maeil Business.

“Tongyang has tens of thousands of shareholders without a significant major shareholder after its workout program,” said Chung Jin-hak, head in charge of construction materials unit of Eugene Group. “As of late last year, among 34,000 shareholders, only four companies including Eugene Group and Pine Tree Investment and Management own more than 1% stake each.”

Tongyang’s largest shareholder Eugene Group holds a 10.01% stake in the company, followed by the 9.74% owned by Pine Tree Investment and Management. Eugene Group plans to buy shares through all possible measures such as purchasing shares directly from major shareholders, in a block trade or in the market. Eugene Group has highlighted potential synergies between its own concrete business and Tongyang.

Uzbeksitan: Uzbekistan has put on sale state shares in Kyzylkumcement. According to the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Privatization, Demonopolization and Development of Competition, the government wants to sell a 35.9% state shares or 160,658,567 shares in Kyzylkumcement for a total of over US$160m. Sales of the state-owned cement producer will be handled by the block-trading section of Uzbekistan Stock Exchange.

Kyzylkumcement was launched in 1977. It is the largest cement plant in Uzbekistan with a production capacity of 3.1Mt/yr.

Russia: Sberbank has sold a 6.12% block of shares in LafargeHolcim Limited it received under a repo deal with Eurocement. The shares have been sold to a group of investors from the UK, Switzerland, the US and other countries. Sberbank's stake, amounting to 37,172,910 votes, was worth roughly Euro1.5bn based on LafargeHolcim share quotations on the Zurich exchange. Sberbank CIB said in a press release previously that the deal was organised to provide financing for Eurocement Holding.

Chile/Peru: Peruvian mining company Volcan could sell its share in Chilean cement producer Polpaico if metal prices continue to fall, according to Volcan's CFO Jorge Murillo. Volcan could receive around US$27m for its approximate 20% stake in the business. Holcim, part of LafargeHolcim, owns 54.3% of Polpaico, which has 2.7Mt/yr of cement production capacity.

UAE: Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Cement has bought back nearly 321,500 of its shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, at prices between US$0.24 – 0.25/share. The number of repurchased shares has reached 9.187 million, while the number of remaining shares amounts 46.7 million. RAK Cement posted net earnings of US$667,002 for the first six months of 2015, compared with US$857,574 a year earlier.

India: Century Textiles & Industries is reportedly planning to sell its cement business and merge it in an all-share deal with India's largest cement maker UltraTech. Both companies are in the final stages of a plan to merge the cement businesses, according to local media.

Once approved by shareholders, the merged entity's cement production capacity would total 87M/yr. This would help UltraTech achieve 100Mt/yr ahead of its target of 2020. UltraTech would gain access to the eastern market while strengthening its presence in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Thailand: Swiss cement maker Holcim Ltd has launched an up to US$741.4m selldown of shares in Thailand's second-largest cement company Siam City Cement (SCC). Holcim is selling 63.3 million SCC shares through its Thai Roc-Cem Ltd unit at an indicative range of between US$10.73 and US$11.68, according to Thomson Reuters.