Global Cement News

One surprise at the end of August 2024 was that Türkiye-based Çimsa has agreed to buy a majority stake in Ireland-based Mannok. The subsidiary of Sabancı Holding signed a deal to acquire just under a 95% stake in Mannok Holdings based on an enterprise value of Euro330m for 100% of the shares. The final purchase price will be determined later in the process, as will a potential completion date subject to the usual regulatory approvals.

Çimsa has described the deal as its “third major global initiative in the past three years” following expansions in the US and Spain. Çimsa started production at its 0.3Mt/yr white cement grinding plant in Houston, Texas in 2019. It is currently planning to set-up a 0.6Mt/yr grey cement grinding plant, also in Houston, with operation expected to start by the end of 2024. Its Spain-based business received a boost in mid-2021 when it purchased the Buñol white cement plant in Valencia from Cemex. Outside of Türkiye the company also operates a few terminals in Germany and Italy. Of interest to this article it established a subsidiary for sales in the UK in mid-2023.

Mannok was previously known as Quinn Group before it was rebranded in 2020. In addition to cement the company sells a range of construction products including PIR (polyisocyanurate) insulation, aircrete thermal blocks, roof tiles and precast concrete. The company is headquartered at Derrylin in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in the UK but it operates in both Ireland and the UK. It runs a 1.4Mt/yr integrated plant at Ballyconnell, County Cavan in Ireland, just across the border from Derrylin. With the 17th Global CemFuels Conference scheduled to take place next week in Dublin, it is worth noting that this cement plant had a recent upgrade of interest to the alternative fuels sector. In 2023 the company said that it had installed the world’s first FLSmidth Fuelflex Pyrolyzer at a cement plant following an earlier pilot of the system back in 2018. It is used to replace coal with solid recovered fuels (SRF) in the pre-calcination stage of cement production. Later in 2023 Mannok said that the equipment was reducing its CO₂ emissions by 58,000t/yr.

As reported in the October 2023 issue of Global Cement Magazine, cement from the Ballyconnell plant is sold in both Ireland and the UK. In 2022, 35% of its sales were in Ireland, 30% in Northern Ireland and the remaining 35% in the rest of the UK. The company uses a storage unit at Warrenport in Northern Ireland to despatch cement to a 8400t cement storage and distribution at Rochester in Southern England.

Çimsa said that the acquisition is intended to help it to increase the share of its revenue in foreign currencies to over 70%. It is not a revelation that Çimsa might want to do this given the parlous state of the economy in Türkiye since 2018. Interest rates are high and the Turkish Lira has lost value. Çimsa raised the issues this has caused in its 2023 annual report. These include higher costs for imported goods and services such as energy, equipment and engineering services. In 2023 the company reported that 57% of its sales consisted of foreign currency-based revenue. The same year exports represented just under 40% of the company’s total revenue. Overall, Çimsa’s revenue fell slightly year-on-year in 2023, in part due to the divestment of a cement plant and other assets, but earnings rose significantly.

Buying Mannok gives Çimsa another route into the European Union (EU), via Ireland, and the UK. Crucially, this gives its first integrated grey cement production site outside of Türkiye. Both of these things are especially useful for an export-focused company facing increasing hurdles to sales in the guise of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. It also helps the business to further hedge against negative currency exchange effects back home in Türkiye. So ‘Sláinte’ to Çimsa and Mannok, and good luck.

The 17th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition takes place in Dublin, Ireland on 18 - 19 September 2024

Argentina/Mexico/Spain: Holcim has appointed Pablo Bittar as the Country CEO of Argentina, Christian Dedeu as the Country CEO of Mexico and Ricardo de Pablos as the Country CEO of Spain. Dedeu succeeds Jaime Hill, who has become Region Head North America. Bittar succeeds Dedeu. De Pablos succeeds Carmen Díaz, who has been appointed as the Chief People Officer in Holcim Group.

Dedeu previously worked as the CEO for Holcim Argentina from 2020. Before this he was the Commercial Director for the company in the country. He originally started working for Holcim in Argentina in 2007 before moving to Holcim Costa Rica in 2016 where he eventually became Commercial Director (Central America). Earlier in his career he worked for ExxonMobil in Argentina from the late 1990s. He is a graduate from the University of El Salvador in Buenos Aires and holds a Master in Business Administration from the IAE Business School.

Bittar worked for Holcim Argentina from late 1990s until 2012, eventually becoming a Procurement Officer. He then worked for Holcim in Ecuador and Colombia becoming the Head of Supply Chain Latin America in 2023. Bittar is an qualified accountant from the National University of Córdoba with a master’s degree in business administration from the same institution.

De Pablos joined Holcim in 2005. He became Regional Director Aggregates in Spain in 2009, Director Mediterranean Area in Spain in 2012, Export Director in 2016 and Director of Business Development and Exports in 2022. Prior to working for Holcim he was a Senior Consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. De Pablos holds a degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and an executive degree in business administration from the IE Business School.

US: Ireland-based Ecocem has appointed Mike Donovan as Technical Director for its US business operations. He will be responsible for overseeing key aspects of Ecocem’s business in the US, with a focus on widespread commercial adoption of the company’s low-carbon cement technologies, including ACT, by the US market.

Donovan most recently developed and brought a new natural pozzolan to market with Geofortis. He started his career in concrete in the 1980s working at companies including as Sherman Industries, Blue Circle Cement Tarmac and Central Concrete Supply (US Concrete). He is a graduate in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

US: Eriez has appointed Todd Loudin as its Vice President of Global Sales.

Loudin holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and business from Kent State University and an Executive Master in Business Administration from Loyola University Maryland. He worked as a General Manager for Larox in the 1990s and was on the Standards Committee for the International Society of Automation (ISA ANSI) in the 2000s and early 2010s. Later he became the head of Neles’ USA Flowrox business and its Head of Sales for the Americas in 2021.

Eriez is a specialises in separation technologies. It supplies products to the mining, food, recycling, packaging, aggregate sectors, and other processing industries. The company was established in in 1942 and has its headquarters in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Guatemala: Cemex has sold its operations in Guatemala to Holcim Group for US$200m. The deal includes one grinding mill, three ready-mix plants and five distribution centres. The grinding mill has a capacity of 0.6Mt/yr.

CEO of Cemex Fernando González said "In 2024, we have accelerated the execution of our portfolio rebalancing strategy with the announced sale of more than US$2bn in assets located primarily in emerging markets. We are now primed for the next stage by redeploying most of the divestment proceeds in developed markets, primarily the US. We expect these efforts to drive sustainable growth for our business in the short and medium term."