Displaying items by tag: business

UK: James Whitelaw will take on the role of managing director in Hanson UK’s newly-established recycling business line. He will be responsible for identifying opportunities to grow organically using the company’s existing capabilities and for integrating new acquisitions.

Whitelaw has held management roles in Hanson UK since 2001 and most recently served as aggregates managing director. Former concrete managing director Brian Charleton will replace him in this role, while Gordon Napier, previously concrete regional director, joins Hanson UK’s executive team as the new concrete managing director.

UK: Hanson UK has launched a recycling business line to process construction and demolition waste. The business will supply recycled materials for use in Hanson UK’s operations.

CEO Simon Willis said “Promoting circularity by recycling, reusing and reducing the use of primary raw materials is crucial to reaching net zero. The development of a separate recycling business line will allow us to provide the most sustainable products to our customers through circularity and innovation, to enable building more with less. It is another significant step towards achieving our aim of being the industry leader in the supply of sustainable, circular products.”

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.

India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) faces a potential stumbling block to its planned acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates’ cement business for US$683m due to an on-going shareholder dispute at subsidiary Jaypee Bhilai Cement. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that a court has frozen Jaiprakash Associates’ 74% shareholding in the company, and ordered it not to create new third party rights. State-owned Steel Authority of India Limited holds the remaining 26% stake in the cement producer, which operates the 2.2Mt/yr Bhilai Jaypee grinding plant in Durg, Chhattisgarh.

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) and Jaiprakash Associates concluded multiple separate agreements for the transfer of ownership of Jaiprakash Associates’ cement subsidiaries on 26 April 2023. Besides Jaypee Bhilai Cement, these include cement plant and limestone mine operator JP Super and grinding plant operator Jaiprakash Power Ventures.

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."

Gambia: Heidelberg Materials has sold its business in the Gambia to iron and steel products company B5 Plus. The business consists of the Banjul cement terminal. Heidelberg Materials says that it will continue to supply West African customers through its operations in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia and Togo. The company sold its subsidiary in Sierra Leone in 2021.

India: The board of directors of Anjani Portland Cement has approved the proposed amalgamation of Bhavya Cements into the company, Reuters has reported. Anjani Portland Cement first acquired a majority stake in Bhavya Cements in mid-2021

India: Shree Cement has pulled out of the race to acquire a 40 – 70% stake in Sanghi Cement for US$205 – 369m. The Financial Express newspaper has reported that Shree Cement said that it will shift its short-term focus to ‘internal expansion.’

Sanghi Cement operates 6.1Mt/yr of cement capacity and a 143MW captive power plant in Western India. It has debts of US$219m.

India: JSW One Platforms, JSW Group’s online business-to-business sales platform, has raised US$25m through an investment from Japan-based Mitsui Bussan. The business will use the funds to strengthen its market presence and further enhance technology capabilities. It also plans to expand its operations in Northern India, and to invest in credit, logistics and new technologies to improve customer experience. The platform stocks JSW Group subsidiary JSW Cement’s range of cement products. The Times of India newspaper has reported that Mitsui Bussan valued JSW One Platforms at US$336m.

JSW One Platforms CEO Gaurav Sachdeva said “There is a lot of distrust in the space and it’s highly fragmented. We want to be a one-stop shop for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, with defined service level agreements and deliverables. We will be the fastest in the space to touch US$1bn in gross merchandise value.” Sachdeva added that he expects the platform’s sales to more than double to US$91.6m in the current, 2024, financial year, from US$36.6m in the 2023 financial year.

Costa Rica: Cementos Progreso has launched its brand in Costa Rica, marking its entry into a seventh Central/South American market.

Chief executive officer José Raúl González said “Our company believes in the region, understands its potential and is committed to adding value to all Central Americans. The launch of our flagship brand in the Costa Rican market is key to our growth and investment plans, which seek to generate development and employment in the local and regional cement industry."