Displaying items by tag: board

Switzerland: Holcim shareholders have elected Kim Fausing as the Chair of the group’s board of directors, succeeding Jan Jenisch, who will become chair and CEO of the group’s North American spin-off, Amrize. Other appointments include the election of Adolfo Orive and Sven Schneider as new Holcim board members.

Fausing has served on Holcim’s board since 2020. He is CEO of Danfoss, a Denmark-based supplier of heating and cooling, motor and electronics technology, and Deputy Chair of Germany-based SMA Solar Technologies, and previously held senior roles at Liechtenstein-based tooling company Hilti and Denmark-based windows producer VELUX. He holds an Executive Master’s of Business Administration from Henley Business School in the UK and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Aarhus Tech, Denmark.

Holcim's spin-off of its North American business, Amrize, is scheduled to be completed by the end of June 2025. Amrize shares are due to list on the SIX Swiss Exchange the New York Stock Exchange as AMRZ.

Fausing said “As Chair and CEO of Holcim for over seven years, Jan has made Holcim a leading company in its financial performance, sustainability, innovation and culture. I extend our deep thanks to Jan for his outstanding accomplishments.”

Switzerland/US: Holcim is progressing towards the planned listing of its North American business and has designated its future board members. The board will comprise 10 members and will become effective following the execution of the spin-off, expected in the first half of 2025, subject to shareholder and customary approvals.

Jan Jenisch, current chair of Holcim and its former CEO from 2017 to 2024, has been designated chair and CEO of the new business. Jenisch will remain Holcim’s chair until the Annual General Meeting on 14 May 2025.

The Board will include nine independent directors: Theresa Drew, Nicholas Gangestad, Dwight Gibson, Holli Ladhani, Michael McKelvy, Jürg Oleas, Robert Rivkin, Katja Roth Pellanda, and Cristina Wilbur.

UAE: The board of RAK White Cement has recommended that its shareholders accept a cash offer from UltraTech Cement for the acquisition of a further stake in the company. Global Cement News reported in May 2024 that UltraTech Cement had offered to acquire 32% of shares in the company. It previously acquired 29% in April 2024.

Switzerland: Holcim has appointed Miljan Gutovic as its new CEO, effective 1 May 2024. Gutovic will replace Jan Jenisch, who will continue in his role as chair, for which he is set to stand for re-election at the group’s upcoming 2024 Annual General Meeting. Jenisch is also tasked with leading the planned US listing of Holcim's North American business.

Miljan Gutovic has served on Holcim’s Group Executive Committee since 2018, including as its regional head of Middle East and Africa, regional head of Europe and head of operational excellence. Holcim said that Gutovic’s area leadership helped to strengthen its market positions and deliver industry-leading margins. He also succeeded in advancing decarbonisation as a driver of profitable growth. Prior to joining Holcim as head of marketing and innovation in March 2018, Gutovic spent 12 years with construction chemicals producer Sika, where he became area manager Sika Middle East in January 2016. Gutovic has a civil engineering background and holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Jan Jenisch said "I am very pleased that the board has appointed Miljan as the new CEO of Holcim. He is a highly qualified successor who has played an instrumental role in Holcim’s successful transformation to become the leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions. Miljan has strengthened our business with record profitability in Europe, closing strategic transactions and building winning teams. I am honoured to stand for re-election as the chair of the board and to lead the planned US listing of Holcim’s North America business. I will continue to dedicate all my efforts to the future of Holcim and all our stakeholders.”

Miljan Gutovic said "I thank the board of directors for trusting me to lead Holcim into its next chapter of success. As a civil engineer who is passionate about the construction industry, Holcim is the best company to be part of. With decarbonisation and advanced technologies transforming how we build, there has never been a more exciting time for our sector. I look forward to working with the Holcim teams around the world to advance our leadership.”

This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide in Sinjar, Iraq. Beginning on the night of 2 - 3 August 2014, ISIS displaced the entire Yazidi population from its homeland, amid a campaign of abductions and killings that claimed 12,000 victims.¹ A striking detail of this and other crimes of the self-proclaimed caliphate is the proximity of a Western corporate actor: cement producer Lafarge, whose subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria operated the Jalabiyeh cement plant in neighbouring northern Syria. On-going investigations have since helped uncover what may amount to complicity on the part of Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria in the form of payments dating back to August 2013.²

In a week that began with the abandoned Jalabiyeh cement plant ablaze following a drone strike,³ Lafarge learned that it will face trial in France over its alleged complicity in crimes against humanity committed by ISIS.⁴ On 16 January 2024, the French Court of Cassation upheld Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syrias' indictments on the charge. Also reportedly indicted are (all former) Lafarge CEOs Bruno Lafont and Eric Olsen, vice president Christian Herrault and security director Jean-Claude Veillard and Lafarge Cement Syria CEOs Bruno Pescheux and Frédéric Jolibois, along with an intermediary and a Jordan-based risk management consultant.^{5, 6} The collaboration in question includes monthly payments to ISIS and other armed groups worth US$15.5m, a lower French court found in May 2022. It may be more than another 20 months before the thorny mass of issues to be considered by the court resolves itself in convictions, or cleared names.

Another front in Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria's legal battle over what happened in Syria is the US civil court system. Activist and survivor Nadia Murad and 426 other Yazidis have filed an Anti-Terrorism Act claim for damages, based on the companies' previous guilty plea to the US Department of Justice to conspiracy to the tune of US$5.92m in October 2022. Murad and fellow claimants allege ‘far higher’ total payments, pointing to correspondence between Lafarge Cement Syria and its intermediary that references ‘[sic] ten millions that we pay directly to them, i.e. to ISIS.’ The DoJ estimates the total value of the conspiracy for all parties at US$80.5m.

On 6 August 2014 (the fourth day of the Yazidi genocide), Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria signalled their agreement to enter into a new long-term agreement to share their revenues with ISIS. On 15 August 2014, the UN Security Council issued Resolution 2170 condemning 'any engagement in direct or indirect trade' with the organisation.⁷ Lafarge and Lafarge Cement Syria allegedly concluded the revenue-sharing agreement, under new terms more beneficial to ISIS, on that same day.

Lafarge Cement Syria finally evacuated the Jalabiyeh cement plant in September 2014, whereupon ISIS added it to its own five-plant international cement network, with sales worth US$583m/yr. The US-led Coalition bombed the site in October 2019 and it was subsequently occupied by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) forces. The strike on 14 January 2024 was part of a drone campaign by Turkish forces against Kurdish positions that the invaders say destroyed 23 targets.

It is conceivable that Turkish armed forces also had personal reasons for destroying this monument to Lafarge’s former presence in the region: on Lafarge’s stipulation, ISIS implemented a duty on Turkish cement entering its area of control, ostensibly charged at US$150/truck. As anyone familiar with the Turkish cement sector knows, one of the major investors in the industry happens to be the country’s military pension fund.

For the 400,000 Yazidis who have survived, the tragedy that began in August 2014 will not end soon. More than half remain in refugee camps. Among the missing are 2000 girls and women who the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism suspect ISIS may have 'further entrenched in human trafficking,' constituing a continuation of the genocide that has outlasted both the self-proclaimed caliphate and the French multinational that may have helped to bankroll it.⁸ Courts in different countries are helping bring to light a reign of terror that spanned international borders. In the US, some of its victims may find redress, while in France, justice may be closing in on anyone who might prove to have made common cause with the perpetrators.

References

1. RASHID, 'DESTROYING THE SOUL OF THE YAZIDIS,' Augut 2019, https://www.rashid-international.org/downloads/RASHID_Yazidi_Heritage_Destruction_Report_2019.pdf

2. Jenner & Block, 'IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK,' 14 December 2013, www.jenner.com/a/web/fy85Wd97fANx7fwBecn31r/23-9186-as-filed-complaint2.pdf

3. ANHA, 'Turkish occupation army targets former Lafarge site,' 14 January 2024, https://hawarnews.com/en/turkish-occupation-army-targets-former-lafarge-site?__cf_chl_tk=mSB3Ph6iU.3FEJ.Z3ywRvcu2n.tOahhpLnd.Fmqk0SU-1705415232-0-gaNycGzNDHs

4. Reuters, 'Lafarge can be charged with 'complicity in crimes against humanity' over Syria plant, French court says,' 16 January 2024, https://ca.news.yahoo.com/lafarge-charged-complicity-crimes-against-132904436.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANqF5SKpSZ7KB5rT5rjo_vFZ5LGdZ9bVkC5SeNw3iZGneLy5Tir2dsb1O3GQjITBRSF_xEs2GDBcSU94nKOocm-npnTznmbfhKB_FgOsBCg-9lO7ilPP2phHAcGahghG9yjmFoWVd24uU7xEwZ2RZqmmMaE2bSIIcTGRuh4LAlXD

5. Madeline Young, Lafarge's Case Cemented, 2021, https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=eilr-recent-developments

6. Le Télégramme, 'Complicité de crimes contre l’humanité : les poursuites contre Lafarge validées par la Cour de cassation?' 16 January 2023, www.letelegramme.fr/france/complicite-de-crimes-contre-lhumanite-les-poursuites-contre-lafarge-validees-par-la-cour-de-cassation-6505590.php

7. UN Security Council, 'Security Council Adopts Resolution 2170 (2014) Condemning Gross, Widespread Abuse of Human Rights by Extremist Groups in Iraq, Syria,' 15 August 2014, https://press.un.org/en/2014/sc11520.doc.htm#:~:text=Through%20the%20unanimous%20adoption%20of,as%20ISIS)%20and%20Al%2DNusra

8. Al-Dayel et al, ‘ISIS and Their Use of Slavery,’ 27 January 2020, https://www.icct.nl/publication/isis-and-their-use-slavery

US: Summit Materials and Cementos Argos have successfully combined their operations in the US under a single entity. Summit Materials acquired Argos North America Corp. for US$1.2bn, and conversely issued 31% of its shares to Cementos Argos. Summit Materials expects to derive US$100m in additional earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) through the deal. Three representatives of Colombia-based Grupo Argos will sit on the board of up to 11 directors of the new combined entity.

Cementos Argos CEO Juan Esteban Calle said "The combination with Summit Materials, which had the resounding support of its shareholders, allows us to begin a new chapter in the successful history of our presence in the US, and is built on shared values, strategic vision and complementary capabilities.” He added “This new milestone consolidates our objective of continuing to expand our presence in the most attractive construction materials industry in the world for the benefit of our shareholders and all interest groups."

Pakistan: The board of directors of Lucky Cement has approved US$37.1m-worth of investments in the construction of renewable energy infrastructure at the company’s Karachi and Pezu cement plants. The producer plans to build a 6.3MW solar power plant and a 28.8MW wind power plant at the Karachi plant in Sindh and a 2.5MW solar power plant at the Pezu plant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan Company News has reported that the board also empowered Lucky Cement to evaluate its participation in the equity of its diversified industrial manufacturing subsidiary, Lucky Core Ventures.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement will launch its new sustainability committee on 1 April 2023. The committee will promote initiatives to reduce the producer's CO2 emissions and help it to 'realise a decarbonised society.' The new committee will operate alongside Sumitomo Osaka Cement's existing corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee, which has been in operation since April 2020.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement Group has expressed its deepest condolences to the family of Ranjeevan Seevaratnam, a member of the company's board of directors, who died on 19 January 2023. Seevaratnam's board experience spanned multiple companies in the cement, activated carbon, agriculture, construction, consumer goods, engineering, rubber and transport industries. He held memberships in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

Tokyo Cement described Seevaratnam as a 'visionary thought leader.'

Pakistan: Lucky Cement announced the death of Muhammed Yunus Tabba ‘with deep sorrow and grief’ on 3 January 2023. At the time, Tabba was serving as chair of the company’s board and as a non-executive director of the company.

Lucky Cement instructed investors that it will fill Tabba’s former roles ‘in due course, as per the requirement of law.’