Global Cement News

Global: Holcim has made three senior appointments in North America and at the group level.

Jaime Hill, the Country CEO of Mexico, has been appointed Region Head North America with immediate effect. He succeeds Toufic Tabbara, who is leaving the company. Hill joined Holcim in 1996 and has over 30 years of international experience, in finance, sales and marketing in the US and Latin America.

Carmen Diaz, the Country CEO of Spain, has been appointed as Chief People Officer with effect from 1 October 2024. She succeeds Feliciano González Muñoz, who is planning to retire at the end of 2024. Diaz joined Holcim in 2002 and has held commercial and general management roles in Madrid, Paris, Lyon and London.

Lukas Studer, General Counsel Corporate and M&A, has been appointed as Group General Counsel with effect from 1 November 2024. He succeeds Mathias Gaertner, who is leaving the group. Studer joined Holcim in 2008 and has been General Counsel Corporate and M&A since 2017, supporting corporate, finance and M&A.

Kenya: Hasmukh Patel, the founder of Mombasa Cement, has died at the age of 58 years after a short illness. He was also the chair of Uganda-based Tororo Cement, according to the Standard newspaper. Patel set up Mombasa Cement in 2007. Notably, the Corporate Social Responsibility programmes of his companies had a budget of around US$12m/yr for spending on various philanthropic schemes.

Germany: Cemex has acquired a majority stake in the Berlin-based recycling company RC-Baustoffe to enhance its circularity business Regenera. The company processes construction, demolition and excavation materials. The acquisition integrates RC-Baustoffe with Regenera, allowing the facility to process up to 400,000t/yr, which will be turned into repurposed aggregates for concrete production.

CEO of Cemex, Fernando González, said “With acquisitions such as this, Cemex continues to strengthen its commitment to circularity through Regenera as well as promoting the world’s transition to a more circular economy. Construction and demolition materials account for more than 30% of global ‘waste’ streams and reintegrating these materials into the construction value chain can reduce the use of virgin raw materials."

India: Dalmia Bharat announced that its subsidiary, Dalmia Cement (Bharat), has entered into a share subscription and shareholders agreement to acquire a 26% stake in Truere Surya for US$5.3m. Truere Surya will establish a solar power project in Tamil Nadu, aligning with Dalmia Bharat’s goals to become carbon negative by 2040.

The solar project will have a capacity of 128MW. Completion of the transaction is anticipated within 4 - 6 months, pending customary conditions.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement, ITOCHU, Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, INPEX, Taisei, and ITOCHU Oil Exploration have been chosen by the Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) to lead the engineering design work for key carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiatives. This selection marks a step towards Japan's ambitious goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and a 46% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from financial year 2013 (FY13) levels by FY30.

The project encompasses front end engineering design (FEED) and appraisal drilling as critical next steps following a comprehensive feasibility study conducted in FY23. This prior study involved detailed assessments of CO₂ separation, capture, transportation and storage processes. The CCS initiative involves shipping CO₂ captured at Nippon Steel’s Kyushu Works in the Oita area and Daiichi Cement's Kawasaki plant, part of the Taiheiyo Cement Group, to designated storage sites.