Displaying items by tag: business

Russia: Holcim said that it has received interest from over 30 possible buyers for its Russian business. The group announced that it would sell the assets, including three cement plants, in March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Jan Jenisch said that the sale would need to be handled ‘with very great diligence.’ He continued "We don't expect to write it off completely. I would hope this business has a value." Jenisch asked investors and commentators to ‘give us a couple of months’ to ‘get more clarity.’

Argentina: Holcim Argentina has launched a hackathon for project proposals aimed at boosting gender inclusivity in the Argentinian construction sector. Projects may fall along one or more target axes: awareness, education and training, enterprise or public policy. Two winning projects will claim US$300,000 each in prize money, and the contest is open to anyone over 18. The company says that the hackathon is an invite to open a conversation about the presence and appreciation of women in cement and construction.

Costa Rica/El Salvador: Cementos Progreso has agreed to acquire Cemex’s Costa Rican and El Salvadorian assets for US$335m. The divested assets consist of an integrated cement plant, a cement grinding plant, seven ready-mix concrete plants, an aggregate quarry and one terminal in Costa Rica. An additional terminal is also being sold in El Salvador. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022 subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities.

Cemex’s chief executive officer (CEO) Fernando Gonzalez said “This transaction allows us to progress in our portfolio rebalancing objectives, while redeploying resources to fund our growth investments and further deleveraging.”

Mexico: Cemex has joined the United Nations (UN) Global Compact’s Chief CFO Taskforce for the Sustainable Development Goals. The taskforce engages global chief finance officers (CFOs) in integrating the UN’s 10 sustainable development goals (SDG) into strategy, financing and investor relations in order to create a broad sustainable finance market. Its aims include providing the global development community with a modern view of how capital markets can contribute to financing the SDGs at scale, developing innovative financial instruments and contributing to a broad market of diversified investment opportunities, supporting companies in securing financial capital to transform their business and production models, connecting companies’ SDG investments with increasingly impact-orientated investors, developing internal tools and resources to embed sustainability in corporate finance, promoting partnerships between chief executive officers and CFOs and helping to translate sustainability strategies into financial language for investors and rating agencies.

Cemex’s CFO Maher Al-Haffar said “Climate change is perhaps the biggest challenge of our times, affecting lives and disrupting economies. Only by aligning our financial and climate action strategies will we be able to overcome this challenge.” He added “At Cemex, we share the beliefs embodied in the CFO principles and are honoured to join the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce for the SDGs, through which we will actively contribute to the innovation of corporate finance that will enable the building of a more resilient future for all.”

Colombia: Cementos Argos and Saint-Gobain have launched a joint venture in the area of lightweight construction materials. The new business will supply the Colombian market with mortar and ‘a wide range’ of other products. Cementos Argos says that the venture will combine Saint-Gobain’s global mortars technology and know-how with its own strong leadership and local presence to accelerate the evolution of the construction market towards a sustainable future. It added that the undertaking aims to strengthen both parties’ leadership and regional growth. They expect to conclude the deal in early 2022.

US: Australia-based Boral has agreed to sell its US fly ash business to Eco Material Technologies for US$755m. The parties expect to conclude the transaction by the start of 2023. The proceeds of the sale will add to Boral’s surplus capital.

Boral’s chief executive officer Zlatko Todorcevski said “Together with the sale of our North American building products business and our stake in Meridian Brick, we will have divested the North American businesses for more than US$3bn.” He added “This is a significant milestone that supports our strategy to refocus on our construction materials business in Australia.”

China: Australia-based FCT Combustion has announced a formal alliance with air pollution control partner Enelco Environmental Technology (EET). Together the companies will target the Chinese cement, steel, glass and other markets. EET has become the exclusive China representative of FCT Combustion, with which it shares its capabilities and resources in the service of Chinese customers.

The two companies have set up a joint office in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. A workshop in Bengbu, Anhui province will support its work. FCT Combustion and EET also plan to launch local technical support, engineering and procurement teams for customers in China.

FCT Group chief executive officer Adriano Greco said “We have great respect for our growing customer base within China and believe that it is important to establish a locally based business unit so that we can deliver the best outcomes and customer experiences, providing customer service and engineering according to the local culture and language, as well as local procurement to offer the most cost-effective solution.”

India: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has awarded UltraTech Cement its Indian Circular Economy Award 2021 in the large enterprise category. The federation said that the award recognises UltraTech Cement's efforts to accelerate the development of a circular economic business model and celebrates its new impactful and innovative practices in 2021.

Denmark: FLSmidth recorded consolidated sales of Euro1.67bn in the first nine months of 2021, up by 2% year-on-year from Euro1.64bn in the corresponding period of 2020. The supplier recorded a net profit of Euro26.4m, up by 54% from Euro17.1m. Of its two divisions, its cement business’ sales increased more sharply, by 22%.

CEO Thomas Schulz said “The third quarter of 2021 saw strong momentum in order intake. The cement industry is emerging from the pandemic with improved service activity and growing demand for greener solutions. Revenue grew strongly and earnings before interest, taxation and amortisation (EBITA) increased by 72% with an improved EBITA margin in both mining and cement.” He added “Our cement reshaping activities have progressed well and EBITA in cement was positive for the first time since the first quarter 2020.”

Australia: Boral has sold its roofing and masonry business to private equity firm Lutum. Quarry Magazine has reported that Boral will retain ownership of its Emu Plains, New South Wales, concrete roofing plant and other ‘relevant infrastructure’ to support its on-going building materials operations.