Global Cement News

Zimbabwe: PPC Zimbabwe has appointed Albert Sigei as its managing director from the start of 2024. He succeeds Kelibone Masiyane in the post, according to the Chronicle newspaper. Masiyane was appointed as the managing director of the subsidiary of South-Africa based PPC in 2016, having joined the company in 1994 as a trainee electrical engineer at the Colleen Bawn Plant.

Sigei is currently PPC’s Head of Strategic Initiatives, a post he has held since February 2023. Before this he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cimerwa PPC in Rwanda from 2000. He worked for over 17 years for LafargeHolcim and its subsidiaries becoming the CEO of LafargeHolcim Malawi from 2016 to 2019 and the chief operations officer of the East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) in Kenya in 2015. Earlier in his career he worked for PriceWaterhousCoopers. A graduate in mechanical engineering from the University of Nairobi, Sigei holds a number of qualifications in accountancy and business.

Azerbaijan: Norm has appointed Ülkü Özcan and Stephan Sollberger to its board of directors, according to the Trend News Agency.

Ülkü Özcan holds over 20 years of experience in the cement industry. She has held various positions in Cimsa and held the position of its chief executive officer from 2018 to 2020. Since then she has been working in the energy & telecommunication cable business in Türkiye. Additionally, she has held various roles at Afyon Cement, including a member of the board of directors, a representative for the Global Cement and Concrete Association and a member in the Audit Committee of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Türkiye. She has also worked for Lafarge Turkey previously. Özcan is a business graduate from Marmara University and has completed the Advanced Industrial Marketing and Strategy Program at INSEAD Business School in Paris.

Stephan Sollberger holds over 30 years of experience in cement and concrete manufacturing companies. From 1992 to 2001, he occupied various positions at Holderbank Cement und Beton. Until 2006, he worked as the manager of the technical centre of Holcim Switzerland and later as a plant director, also in Switzerland. He also holds managerial experience at Jura Group. Since 2020, he has held the role of Chief Operations Director at Landqart. Sollberger is a graduate from the University of Applied Sciences Zurich and the University of Applied Sciences Bern.

Indonesia: Heidelberg Materials subsidiary Indocement has bought the 1.8Mt/yr integrated Grobogan cement plant in Central Java from Semen Grobogan. The plant commands sufficient limestone reserves for the next 50 years and has 700,000t/yr of additional cement grinding capacity.

Heidelberg Materials chair Dominik von Achten said “As part of our ongoing portfolio optimisation, we are making an exciting step in the growth market of Indonesia. Heidelberg Materials has been active in Indonesia for more than 20 years. With this investment, we are now strengthening our presence in one of the most populated regions in Indonesia, where we expect further market growth driven by the growing retail market, developing industrial areas and major infrastructure projects. As frontrunners of decarbonisation in emerging markets, we continue to drive our ambitious CO₂ reduction targets at all our sites in Indonesia, including the new cement plant.”

Bulgaria: Heidelberg Materials subsidiary Devnya Cement has commenced construction of the ANRAV.beta carbon capture pilot unit at its Devnya cement plant near Varna. Construction will take ‘a few months,’ followed by a pilot trial lasting 12 – 24 months. The ANRAV system will rely on OxyCal oxygen-enriched burner technology to eventually capture 800,000t/yr of CO₂ from 3Mt/yr of plant flue emissions. The project has Euro190m in grants from the EU Innovation Fund and is scheduled for delivery in 2028.

Heidelberg Materials’ Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia regional director Ernest Jelito said “The OxyCal technology we will be trialling in Devnya is a crucial addition to our portfolio of capture technologies. Obtaining solid operational data from industrial pilots like this is essential to ensure the successful implementation of projects under our comprehensive CCUS investment programme. At the same time, we can demonstrate an economically feasible way to decarbonise carbon-intensive industries in Eastern Europe.”

India: CK Birla Group has approached Adani Group as a possible buyer for its 38% stake in Orient Cement. Mint News has reported that CK Birla Group has previously rejected offers from other local cement producers for the stake. The group is reportedly seeking ‘double’ its market value of US$466m.

Orient Cement plans to make capital expenditure investments worth US$120m/yr up to the end of the 2025 financial year on 31 March 2023.