Displaying items by tag: corporate
Cementos Argos to launch Argos Green Solutions
17 March 2021Colombia: Cementos Argos will hold the virtual launch of Argos Green Solutions on 17 March 2021. The company will use the group to set out its vision of innovation to build a sustainable future. President Juan Esteban Calle and sustainability vice president María Isabel Echeverri will host the event.
Austria: Weitersdorfer Group has consolidated its lime activities under lime subsidiary Intercal. The group says that the closer cooperation of locations under the regionally-rooted InterCal enables the most effective roll-out of new technology such as drones for stockpile management and supports sustainable production practices such as the use of blown wood dust in lime kilns. Austria-based W&P Kalk became InterCal Austria, Slovenia-based IGM became InterCal Slovenija and Croatia-based InterCal became InterCal Croatia.
Sales and marketing managing director Harald Braunecker said, InterCal's "The new umbrella brand enables future-orientated cooperation between the individual locations, thus strengthening our market position from Austria to the Black Sea. The name InterCal combines the international market claim of the umbrella brand with calcium carbonate, the most important basic raw material for lime production.” He added, "Thanks to cross-border synergy effects among the individual InterCal companies, it is also possible for us to place an even stronger focus on the topic of sustainable production."
Pakistan: Bestway Cement claimed three awards at the Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2021. The company won the Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Covid-19 Pandemic award, the Education and Scholarships award and the Green Energy Initiatives award.
It said, “Bestway appreciates its responsibility towards local communities, thus playing a vital role in their socio-economic development such as improving access to health services and education, taking part in the urban development and environmental conservation programs and helping generate employment.
China: China National Building Materials (CNBM) plans to increase its stake in Tianshan Cement to 88% from 46% as part of its restructuring drive. Tianshan Cement will acquire outright fellow CNBM subsidiaries China United Cement and Sinoma Cement. It will also acquire CNBM’s majority stakes in Southwest Cement and South Cement. The group says that it has completed the audit, evaluation and evaluation filing for the reorganisation. It follows an announcement in the summer of 2020 about the plan.
In a related transaction, Tianshan Cement said it had agreed to buy Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement’s 1.3% stake in South Cement. Reuters has reported that value of this deal as US$96.0m.
CNBM said that the restructuring is intended to, “promote the integration of high-quality resources, strengthen the company’s leading position in the cement industry and facilitate resolving industry competition among subsidiaries of the company in the cement business sector.”
Germany: HeidelbergCement has detailed how it uses bonuses to ensure country and cement plant managers achieve their CO2 reduction targets. Chief financial officer Lorenz Näger explained to financial analysts following the publication of the group’s fourth quarter results for 2020, that a plant’s annual reduction target is calculated against the group-wide ‘525 by 2025’ target of CO2 emissions of 525kg/t of cementitious material by 2025. Plant performance against this is multiplied with a financial target to determine a manager’s bonus. This enables for the enlargement of bonuses at financially well-performing plants which exceed their emissions reduction targets. A similar mechanism is also used for country managers. Näger called the incentive mechanism a ‘step-changer.’
Pakistan: The National Forum for Environment and Health has awarded Maple Leaf Cement the Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2021 for its contributions to environment and community. The Business Recorder newspaper has reported that the company says it encourages a ‘positive impact’ on the environment, employees, community and all other stakeholders through its activities.
Ssangyong Cement to rebrand as Ssangyong C&E
24 February 2021South Korea: Ssangyong Cement has announced a planned name change to Ssangyong C&E. The Korea Herald newspaper has reported that the ‘C’ stands for cement while the ‘E’ stands for environment. Besides signalling its move into new industries driven by green value-creation, the new name is intended to reflect the company’s existing values. Since the beginning of 2016, it says it has spent US$90m/yr on environmental upgrades to cement production. Shareholders will finalise the change on 25 March 2021.
Ssangyong Cement chair Hong Sa-seung said, “For the past 60 years, we have led Korea’s cement industry and contributed to country’s industrialisation and economic development. With the know-how we have gathered from the cement business, we seek to expand our business to environmental businesses.”
HeidelbergCement Bangladesh plans merger with Emirates Cement
23 February 2021Bangladesh: HeidelbergCement Bangladesh plans to amalgamate its subsidiary Emirates Cement. The Daily Star newspaper has reported that fellow HeidelbergCement Bangladesh subsidiary Emirates Power Company will also be merged as part of the reorganisation.
The subsidiary of Germany-based Heidelberg Cement acquired Emirates Cement Bangladesh and Emirates Power for around US$21.5m in 2019. Emirates Cement Bangladesh operates a plant at Munshiganj with a production capacity of 0.66Mt/yr.
Saudi White Cement rebrands as Riyadh Cement Company
11 February 2021Saudi Arabia: Saudi White Cement has rebranded as Riyadh Cement Company. Mubasher News has reported that the company previously received regulatory approval for the change to the commercial register. It had used both names in parallel prior to the change.
UltraTech Cement’s board approves US$411m bond issuance
04 February 2021India: The board of UltraTech Cement has voted to raise up to US$411m through issuance of US dollar-denominated bonds. The company will use the proceeds to refinance existing Indian Rupee debt, with the remainder reserved for regular on-going capital expenditure requirements and general corporate purposes.