Displaying items by tag: Shares

Colombia: Grupo Argos launched a buyback of US$10.1m-worth of its shares on 4 December 2023. Local press has reported that the offer covers US$8.33m-worth of common shares and US$1.73m worth of preferred shares. The offer will remain open until 7 December 2023.

India: UltraTech Cement has concluded an agreement to acquire Kesoram Cement from Kesoram Industries for US$912m. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the price includes an equity value of US$646m and debt of US$267m. As part of the deal, Kesoram Industries shareholders will gain single shares in UltraTech Cement for every 52 shares they hold in Kesoram Industries.

Kesoram Cement operates two cement plants – the 10.8Mt/yr Vasavadatta plant in Karnataka and the 660,000t/yr Kesoram cement plant in Telangana – and a packing plant in Maharashtra.

Kesoram Industries says that the sale of Kesoram Cement will help it to focus on its chemicals, rayon and transparent paper businesses.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has launched an offer to repurchase shares up to a value of US$4.92m, comprising up to US$4.14m-worth of common shares and up to US$787,000-worth of preferred shares. The producer stated that the move aims to increase the liquidity of its shares on the Colombian stock exchange.

China: Anhui Conch Cement plans to conduct a share buyback to repurchase up to US$82.5m-worth of its shares. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the group will finance the buyback using its internal funds.

China: China National Building Material (CNBM) says that its subsidiary Gansu Qilianshan Cement has issued shares. Reuters has reported that CNBM stated the reason for the issuance is ‘asset acquisition’ as part of the group’s on-going restructuring.

Egypt: Misr Beni Suef Cement has secured board approval for a reduction in its issued capital. Arab Finance News has reported that the company plans to reduce its capital by 10% to US$19.8m.

Ireland/US: CRH has announced that it has completed the latest phase of its share buyback programme, returning a further US$1bn of cash to shareholders. Between 30 June 2023 and 22 September 2023, 17.7 million ordinary shares were repurchased on Euronext Dublin and the London Stock Exchange. This brings total cash returned to shareholders under CRH’s ongoing share buyback programme to US$6bn since it began in May 2018.

CRH has also said that it has entered into non-discretionary arrangements with Merrill Lynch International and BofA Securities to repurchase and additional US$1bn of ordinary shares on CRH’s behalf. This latest buyback commenced on 25 September 2023 on the London Stock Exchange and no earlier than 23 October 2023 in the US due to the requirements of Rule 10b-18 under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Malaysia: Norway-based Norges Bank has bought a 5% stake in Cahya Mata Sarawak, Bernama Daily Malaysian News has reported.

The bank said “Norges Bank's mission is to promote economic stability and manage substantial assets on behalf of the Norwegian people.” It added “As part of its investment strategy for the Government Pension Fund Global, Norges Bank seeks to optimise returns within the framework of its investment mandate.”

India: The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has obtained documents which allegedly show how two people with close ties to the owners of Adani Group invested significantly in the group. Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling traded in Adani Group shares through a Mauritius-based investment fund. The OCCRP reports that Ahli and Chang might be found to have been acting on behalf of Adani promoters. If so, their shareholding would bring insider investment in Adani Group to over 75%. This would potentially indicate stock manipulation under Indian law. Ahli and Changs’ investment management company reportedly paid a company owned by Vinod Adani, the brother of Adani Group chair Gautam Adani, for investment advice.

Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli is a Dubai-based business consultant, who is listed as an officer in a British Virgin Islands-based securities investment firm linked to Adani Group. Meanwhile, China-based Chang Chung-Ling has held positions on the boards of multiple Adani Group companies.

Adani Group replied “Contrary to your claim of new evidence/proofs, these are nothing but a rehash of unsubstantiated allegations levelled in the Hindenburg report. Our response to the Hindenburg report is available on our website. Suffice it to state that there is neither any truth to nor any basis for making any of the said allegations against the Adani Group and its promoters, and we expressly reject all of them."

Italy: Alpacem subsidiary W&P Cementi has concluded a deal to buy Buzzi’s Fanna cement plant in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The plant has a clinker capacity of 660,000t/yr. As a part of the deal, Buzzi will obtain a 25% stake in Alpacem’s Austrian subsidiary Alpacem Zement Austria. Alpacem said that the deal expands the companies’ existing strategic partnership into the Austrian market. The parties expect to conclude the deal, pending the approval of competition authorities, in 2024.

Alpacem chief executive officers Bernhard Auer and Lutz Weber said “We are pleased to be expanding the strategic partnership. There are many future challenges in the cement sector that we can solve better together than we can individually.”