US/Switzerland: Holcim has made progress on the capital market separation of its North American business, planning a 100% spin-off to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. An additional listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange is planned for European investors. The spin-off is subject to shareholder approval at the Holcim Annual General Meeting on 14 May 2025 and expects to occur by the end of the first half of 2025, subject to customary approvals.

Australia: Boral has launched upgraded ‘carbon-reducing’ technology at its Berrima Cement Works in the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales (NSW). The upgraded facility features a new chlorine bypass, which reduces the build-up of chlorides and other alternative fuel byproducts. This will reportedly enable alternative fuel usage to reach 60% over the next three years at the site, doubling its current substitution rate of 30%.

Tanzania/Kenya: Savannah Clinker has abandoned its US$198m bid to acquire Bamburi Cement, leaving Tanzania-based Amsons Group as the sole bidder with an offer of US$168m. The withdrawal followed the exit of Savannah Clinker’s financier, Global Infrastructure Finance & Development Authority, due to the arrest of chair Savannah Ndeta on suspicion of fraud and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) declining a 60-day extension request.

A spokesperson for Savannah Clinker said "The withdrawal of the competing offer has been occasioned by the recent well-publicised arrest and indictment of the chair and main shareholder of Savannah, Benson Ndeta, which has led to the financier of the competing offer seeking additional due diligence. This is further compounded by the CMA’s decision to decline a request made on 2 December 2024 to extend the offer period by 60 days."

Kyrgyzstan: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce in Kyrgyzstan has initiated an anti-dumping investigation into cement imports from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The investigation covers imports over the past three years amid a ‘sharp’ rise in import volumes, according to Kun.Uz news. Cement imports increased by 130% from January – September 2024, reaching 401,000t, with Kazakhstan exporting 269,700t of cement worth US$14.3m and Uzbekistan exporting 124,000t valued at US$9.2m. Uzbekistan’s cement exports increased from 1000t in 2023 to 123,000t during January – September 2024. The investigation aims to determine breaches of fair competition rules and protect Kyrgyz producers and the domestic market.

UK: Material Evolution has launched its 'ultra-low carbon' cement production plant, Mevo A1, in Wrexham. The facility was commissioned in October 2024 and operates on an industrial scale with a capacity to produce 120,000t/yr of its MevoCem product, which the company claims can achieve up to 85% emissions reductions compared to ordinary Portland cement. The plant uses Material Evolution's alkali-fusion process that doesn’t require heat or a kiln, producing a cement capable of undergoing geopolymerisation.

Sam Clark, co-founder and chief operating officer said "This launch takes us one step closer to achieving our goal of removing one gigaton of CO₂ by 2040."

India: Star Cement has said that it plans to expand its capacity by an additional 2Mt/yr through a greenfield project in Silchar at a cost of US$47.2m. The expansion is expected to be completed within the next two years.

This announcement comes after Star Cement dismissed reports suggesting that Adani Group subsidiary Ambuja Cement had entered talks to acquire the company, as part of its strategy to expand its presence in the Northeast. According to the Economic Times, Star Cement labelled the claims as ‘speculative’ and clarified that ‘no such discussions are underway.’

Sanjay Agarwal, joint managing director of Star Cement, said “At a time when the building materials sector is growing, we are not looking to exit this business.”

Star Cement has a total installed production capacity of 7.7Mt/yr. Its operations include a 1.67Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Meghalaya and four grinding units.

Afghanistan: Al-Falah Al-Alami Company will build a new cement plant in Jabal Saraj, north of Kabul, with an investment of US$220m. The plant is expected to reduce Afghanistan’s dependency on imported cement. It is reportedly being built on a 120-hectare site and will create employment opportunities for around 5000 people. All raw materials required for cement production will be sourced locally.

According to a post on X by spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Mawlawi Zabihullah Mujahid, the Jabal Saraj cement plant will have the capacity to produce 5000t/day of cement or 1.6Mt/yr.

UK: Aggregate Industries has built a 45m high and 32m diameter airform dome silo at the Port of Tilbury in Essex. The silo is part of its new cement import, manufacturing and distribution facility, which is under construction. The inflatable structure will store up to 30,000t of cement to support demand for construction materials in the region. Aggregate Industries worked with US-based Dome Technology to inflate the dome. Contractor Dome Technology will now apply nearly 4500m³ of sprayed and wet mix concrete to form the dome silo.

The cement facility is expected to be operational in 2026.

Germany: Fluor has signed a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract with Heidelberg Materials for its GeZero project to integrate an industrial-scale CO₂ capture and storage solution into its cement production facility in Geseke. Fluor will recognise the undisclosed contract value in the fourth quarter of 2024. It will be responsible for design integration of several decarbonisation technologies at the Geseke cement production facility. Construction is planned to start in 2026, with commissioning three years later.

Huaxin Cement revealed this week that it is buying Holcim’s majority stake in Lafarge Africa for US$1bn. The moment marks a big step in the China-based cement producer’s international ambitions. It has been linked in the financial media to many divestments around the world in recent years. Yet this appears to be its largest acquisition so far and it adds to what is becoming a serious sized multinational business in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The details of the deal are that Holcim has agreed to sell its 83% share of Lafarge Africa to Huaxin Cement. Lafarge Africa operates four integrated cement plants in Nigeria at Sagamu and Ewekoro in Ogun State, at Mfamosing in Cross River State and the Ashaka Cement plant in Gombe State. It has a combined production capacity of 10.5Mt/yr. The transaction is expected to close in 2025 subject to regulatory approvals.

Holcim holds a relationship with Huaxin Cement that dates back to the late 1990s when it first bought a stake in the company. Following the formation of LafargeHolcim in the mid-2010s, Lafarge’s subsidiary Lafarge China Cement was sold to Huaxin Cement. At the end of 2023 Holcim reported that it owned just under a 42% share in the company. Huaxin Cement has also bought assets from Holcim as the latter company has divested subsidiaries over the last decade. In 2021 it bought Lafarge Zambia and Pan African Cement in Malawi from Holcim. This adds to other acquisitions in the region. In 2020 it purchased African Tanzanian Maweni Limestone from ARM Cement. Later in 2023 it picked up InterCement’s subsidiaries in Mozambique and South Africa. In addition, in October 2024 local media in Zimbabwe reported that the company was planning to build a grinding plant. Now, throw in the plants in Nigeria and Huaxin Cement is the second biggest cement producer in Sub-Saharan Africa after Dangote Cement.

Huaxin Cement said it had an overseas cement grinding capacity of just under 21Mt/yr at the end of 2023. However, this figure included plants in Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Oman, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Data from the Global Cement Directory 2024 suggests that the company now has 10 integrated cement plants in Sub-Saharan Africa with a cement capacity of around 18Mt/yr. It also operates a number of grinding plants in these countries.

The Lafarge Africa deal is significant because a mainland China-based cement producer has finally hit the US$1bn window in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity overseas. Many potential acquisitions in the sector are linked by the press to Chinese companies these days. However, most of the activity to date has been of a plant-by-plant or piecemeal nature. Alternatively, these companies have been building their own plants around the world as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) has spent more buying itself into Türkiye-based OYAK Cement since 2018 but it is headquartered in Taipei.

The question from here is how much further does Huaxin Cement plan to expand both in Africa and beyond? The obvious answer is that it will keep going given the state of the cement sector back home in China, the retreat of the western multinationals and the demographic trends in the region. World population growth is predicted to be fastest in Africa in the coming decades and demand for cement should follow. Outside of Africa, the ‘big’ one recently has been InterCement in Brazil. Unfortunately for Huaxin Cement though, InterCement extended its exclusivity deal with Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) in November 2024. If the Lafarge Africa transaction completes then it will be the biggest deal yet and it will welcome a China-based cement company to the big league of international M&A. It may just be the start.