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Dalmia challenges the Lafarge India sale
Written by David Perilli, Global Cement
20 April 2016
Dalmia Cement (Bharat) threw a spanner in the works of the sale of Lafarge India this week. The cement producer, part of Dalmia Group, appealed against the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) revised approval of the sale in February 2016. Dalmia challenged the CCI’s approval on procedural grounds querying both the revised and original order for the sale. Subsequently the sale has been delayed until a hearing in May 2016.
Dalmia’s objections concern how the CCI’s original approval in March 2015 interacts with the revised approval given in February 2016. Lafarge India was originally asked by the CCI in February 2015 to sell off 5.2Mt/yr of cement production capacity in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in eastern India. The request was a condition to allow the merger of Lafarge and Holcim in the country. Lafarge lined up Birla Corporation to buy the two cement plants but an ambiguous amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act killed the deal. Then Lafarge India, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, announced that is was selling all of its assets in India. This includes three cement plants and two grinding stations with a total capacity of around 11Mt/yr.
Dalmia’s appeal may be planned to slow down the sale of a rival in the Indian cement business. Dalmia Group is the fifth largest cement producer in India with a capacity of 14.5Mt/yr. Lafarge India is, to an extent, a lame duck rival whilst the legal wranglings drag on.
However, the appeal may have a more serious side. A statement from the lawyers representing Dalmia also mentioned a challenge against the purchase requirements from the original CCI approval in March 2015. Specifically that any purchaser, “shall not have (directly or indirectly) operational capacity exceeding 5% of the total installed capacity in the relevant geographic market.” The confusion here is where that ‘relevant’ area refers to.
Originally the CCI designated this as Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. And unsurprisingly, Dalmia holds more than 5% of production capacity in that region. If the CCI expands the relevant geographic area to more regions of the country then Dalmia’s market share is likely to fall. Local media reported that a bid for the Lafarge India assets by private equity firm KKR, which holds equity in a Dalmia subsidiary, was denied by the CCI. Cue the legal challenge.
It seems unlikely that the appeal by Dalmia will slow the sale down too much. If it is accepted then the CCI will have to reissue its approval for a second time and the sale will be delayed by a few months. If it is denied then the sale will proceed after a delay of one month. Either way the affair demonstrates how prized the Lafarge India assets have become. Indian local media reported that at least nine bids were made. It will be fascinating to see the price the winning bid makes when it is released.
Adana Çimento places order for Loesche cement mill 20 April 2016
Turkey: Adana Çimento has placed an order for a Loesche cement mill for its Adana cement plant in Turkey. The LM 46.4 vertical roller mill with a transmission power of 2750kW is used for grinding 200t/hour of raw material to white cement. The material will be ground to a fineness of 8% R 90µm. A period of nine months will be allowed for delivery so that the Loesche roller mill will be put into operation during the fourth quarter in 2016.
Previously, Adana Çimento ordered a Loesche mill of type LM 53.3+3 CS for grinding clinker and slag at its Iskenderun cement grinding plant in 2007. Adana Çimento is a subsidiary company of the Oyak Group.
Beumer supplies world's highest bucket elevator to ACC 20 April 2016
India: Beumer Group has supplied a HGBW-HC 1250 x 175.3m belt bucket elevator to the ACC cement plant in Wadi. Beumer says it is the highest such bucket elevator in the world with a distance of 175.3m between the centres. The size of this system enables a flow rate of around 600t/hour to be achieved, supported by high-strength steel wire belts. Previously Beumer has supplied bucket elevators with a height of 174m and 171m to ACC.
China: Asia Cement’s revenue has fallen by 11% year-on-year to US$185m in the first quarter of 2016. Its gross profit fell by 45% to US$18m. The Chinese cement producer blamed the result on falling sales prices.
Venezuela: Representatives from the Sintuecav union have urged the government to invest in the cement industry. The union said that if no money is provided then Venezolana de Cementos might not be able to continue operations past June 2016, according to El Informador. Sintuecav added that cement production has more than halved since the country nationalised its cement industry in 2008. Before nationalisation Venezolana de Cementos exported clinker from its Pertigalete cement plant. From January to September 2014 it imported 120,000t of clinker from Peru and Spain.