Displaying items by tag: West Bengal
Emami Cement considering initial public offering
31 July 2018India: Emami Group is considering an initial public offering (IPO) for its cement subsidiary, Emami Cement. The IPO is intended to generate funds for expansion, according to sources quoted by the Hindu newspaper. The company has appointed a consultant to explore public issue prospects and preliminary discussions have started with merchant bankers. The cement producer has invested over US$575m to double its production capacity to 8Mt/yr from 4.4Mt/yr in the current financial year with plants in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.
Ramco Cement Limited orders three mills from Loesche
16 July 2018India: Ramco Cement has ordered three vertical roller mills from Germany’s Loesche. It has ordered two LM 41.2+2 CS type mills with two grinding rollers and two support rollers with a power range of 3000kW and a capacity of 130t/hr for two of its cement plants to grind the Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC). The first mill will be installed at Kolaghat, West Bengal, where Ramco Cement is upgrading a grinding plant to 2Mt/yr from 0.95Mt/yr. The second mill will be used at a grinding plant in Gobburupalam, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
A third mill has been ordered for a newly-built plant at Haridaspur in Odisha. Here, a LM 46.2+2 CS type mill with a capacity of 3750kW will be used to grind PPC with a throughput of 165t/hr. This order also includes mill fans, bag-type filters and further auxiliary equipment. It will all be delivered by the end of 2018.
India: JSW Cement has inaugurated a 6.5km railway siding to its 2.4Mt/yr Salboni cement grinding plant in West Bengal. The railway siding will connect the unit to the main railway line between Godapiasal and Salboni, according to the Economic Times newspaper. The new connection is expected to reduce logistics costs at the site.
The rail yard at the plant has five lines running parallel and connected to each other. Two lines are designated for receiving raw materials, two lines are dedicated for cement loading and the fifth line is reserved for engine reversal. The plant initially intends to receive two rakes of raw materials per day and one rake per day of cement for despatch.
India: UltraTech Cement has agreed an acquisition schedule to buy the cement assets of Century Textiles & Industries. The cement production subsidiary of BK Birla Group comprises three integrated plants in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra respectively with a combined production capacity of 11.4Mt/yr and a 1Mt/yr grinding plant in West Bengal.
The takeover has been arranged via a demerger process whereby Century Textiles’ shareholders will be given shares in UltraTech Cement. The deal is subject to approval from shareholders, creditors, competition bodies and others. It is expected to be completed by early 2019.
Ramco Cements to buy grinding plant in West Bengal
06 March 2018India: Ramco Cements has entered into an agreement with Ramco Industries, a fellow subsidiary of Ramco Group, to buy a 216,000t/yr grinding plant at Kharagpur in West Bengal. The deal covers the land and equipment at the site. The cement producer will pay US$2.6m as part of the agreement.
State minster inaugurates JSW Cement’s Salboni grinding plant
16 January 2018India: Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, has inaugurated JSW Cement’s plant at Salboni. The US$125m grinding plant has a production capacity of 2.4Mt/yr, according to the Press Trust of India. It started commercial production at the site in July 2017 with plans to manufacture Portland Slag Cement. The cement producer is already preparing upgrades at the unit including a US$15.6m captive power plant with a capacity of 18MW and a US$47m production capacity increase of 1.2Mt/yr.
India: JSW Group is considering plans to build a 200MW solar plant next to its cement grinding plant at Salboni in West Bengal. The owner of JSW Cement is considering plans for land it owns at the site, according to the Press Trust of India. The group says it is in advanced talks with foreign contractors to build the US$124m project. However, if the proposal fails it will build a 36MW thermal power plant instead for use by the cement plant.
Emami Cement commissions Panagarh grinding plant
23 March 2017India: Emami Cement has commissioned a 2Mt/yr cement grinding plant at the Panagarh Industrial Park in the Burdwan district of West Bengal. The project cost US$76m, according to the Hindu newspaper. The plant will produce Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland Pozzolana Cement and Portland Slag Cement products under the ‘Emami Double Bull’ brand. The new plant joins Emami Cement’s integrated plant at Risda in Chattisgarh. It is also building another 1.8Mt/yr grinding plant in Odisha.
Emami Group plans 20Mt/yr expansion drive by 2021
26 October 2016India: Emami Group is planning to build a cement production capacity of 15 – 20Mt/yr by 2021. It started operations at its 5.5Mt/yr cement plant in Chattisgarh in July 2016. In addition, two cement grinding plants are set to open in West Bengal and Odisha, according to the Press Trust of India. The West Bengal plant is due to open in January 2017.
"We aim to be among the top few players in the cement industry. Emami Cement plans to have a manufacturing capacity of 15 – 20Mt/yr over the next three to five years," said Aditya Agarwal, director of Emami Group.
Emami Cement has a limestone mine in Andhra Pradesh where it also plans to build a 2Mt/yr plant with an investment of US$225m. It also plans to build a 6Mt/yr plant in Rajasthan for US$524m.
Initially, the company plans to target markets in Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha and eastern Maharashtra's Vidharbha region. It sells cement under the 'Double Bull' brand.
Hear Nirma roar!
13 July 2016Another week and another massive Indian cement industry deal. This week Nirma has won the bidding for the assets of Lafarge India that LafargeHolcim is selling. Before we get too carried away though, the diversified conglomerate entered into a letter agreement with LafargeHolcim on 7 July 2016 to pay US$1.4bn for three cement plants and two grinding plants with a total cement production capacity of 11Mt/yr.
It is worth noting that this is only a letter agreement. LafargeHolcim signed one previously with Birla Corporation for some of the same assets in August 2015. Unfortunately, an ambiguous amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act struck in January 2015 made it unclear how easily mineral rights could be transferred with an industrial plant sale. After much likely internal squabbling Lafarge India said it was selling all of its assets in January 2016 followed by threats of legal action by Birla.
Some commentators in the Indian media have flagged the new deal as expensive for Nirma. It will be paying US$127/t for the new capacity compared to the US$118/t that UltraTech Cement is offering Jaiprakash Associates for its laboured deal. The Nirma deal comprises integrated cement plants at Sonadih in Chattisgarh, Arasmeta in Chattisgarh and Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, and cement grinding plants at Jojobera in Jharkhand and Mejia, West Bengal. Other assets include 63 ready mix concrete plants, two aggregate plants and a blending unit.
However, unlike UltraTech, Nirma is a relatively new entrant in the cement industry. Its main industries are in detergents and soda ash manufacture. It invested US$194m in a 2.28Mt/yr cement plant in Rajasthan that was commissioned in November 2014. It also ran into environmental issues over a proposal to build a new cement plant at Mahuva in Gujarat. One report compiled under request by the Indian Supreme Court in 2011 cited the presence of Asiatic lions as a reason for concern!
Lions aside, Nirma may be paying over the odds for its new cement business but it will gain a bigger presence in the industry quickly and diversify from its other existing industries in which it faces fierce competition. The Lafarge India plants are mostly in eastern Indian states compared to Nirma’s plant in Rajasthan in the west, giving it a reasonable geographic spread.
Nirma reportedly plans to finance the purchase through a leveraged buyout and the Mint business newspaper has described this as the largest transaction of its kind in India to date. The risk here will be how the Indian cement market plays out in the short term. LafargeHolcim reported that its cement volumes fell in 2015, although this has since picked up in the first half of 2016. UltraTech did better in its 2015 – 2016 financial year but it reported a slow construction market. Longer-term demographic trends suggest that the cement industry will grow, especially in the east of the country. With this in mind it may be a while before Nirma’s cement business roars.