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UltraTech linked to bid for Lafarge assets in Brazil 15 October 2014
India/Brazil: UltraTech Cement, India's largest cement producer, intends to bid for assets owned by Lafarge in the south-eastern region of Brazil, according to Indian press. If the bid is successful it will be the company's largest overseas deal to date. The Aditya Birla Group company currently holds small assets in west Asia.
The Brazilian assets on sale include three integrated cement plants and two grinding stations with a total capacity of 3.6Mt/yr, as well as one ready-mix plant. The Lafarge assets are on sale as part of the divestment plant following the announcement of the LafargeHolcim merger.
UltraTech has an installed cement production capacity of 62Mt/yr. It has 12 integrated plants, one clinker plant, 16 grinding units and six bulk terminals with operations across India, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Military builds new cement production line at Al-Arish 15 October 2014
Egypt: The military-run Al-Arish cement plant is building a new cement production line, which will be completed by the end of 2015, according to the head of the construction materials department at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce Ahmed El-Zeiny. After completion, the production line will double the plant's production from 3.5Mt/yr to 7Mt/yr. It is expected to cost up to US$112m.
"This is an attempt to fight the monopoly imposed by foreign cement facilities that sell cement at higher prices than the international standards," said El-Zeiny.
Holcim appoints three new employees at Ste. Genenvieve plant
Written by Global Cement staff
15 October 2014
US: Holcim's Ste. Genevieve plant has appointed three employees to leadership positions. Corey Green was named area leader for Maintenance and Reliability, Rodney Forester accepted the position of operations leader and Houston Meyer was named as Raw Mill area leader.
Green, in his role as Maintenance and Reliability area leader, is responsible for operations and maintenance within the plant area. Green has 15 years of experience in equipment repairs. His previous six years were as a project manager with Roland Machinery Company, where he was responsible for the oversight of the maintenance contract with Holcim.
Forester, in his role as operations leader, will supervise shift personnel and control room operations that support optimisation of processes for efficient operations. Forester joined Holcim (US) in 2008 as a cement technician in the Maintenance and Reliability department and most recently worked in the control room on a temporary operations leader assignment. Forester holds an associate's degree in welding technology from Jefferson College.
Meyer will be responsible for operations and maintenance within the Raw Mill area. He joined the Ste. Genevieve team in 2011. His most recent role was as cement technician with the Raw Mill team. Prior to joining Holcim, Houston was employed at Alberici Constructors for six years.
Patrick Bass to become CEO of ThyssenKrupp North America
Written by Global Cement staff
15 October 2014
US: Torsten Gessner has stepped down as CEO of ThyssenKrupp North America as of 10 October 2014. Patrick Bass, currently senior vice president Product Lifecycle Management/Research and Development at the ThyssenKrupp Elevator headquarter in Germany will become CEO of ThyssenKrupp North America as of 1 January 2015. Kevin Backus, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at ThyssenKrupp North America will be responsible for the regional headquarter on an interim basis.
Patrick Bass started his career at ThyssenKrupp with ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corp., Horn Lake, US as a Mechanical Engineer in 1999. He served in various positions in the Elevator organisation where he took over the position of Executive Vice President of Research and Development before he changed to ThyssenKrupp's Elevator headquarter in Essen, Germany and took over the position of Senior Vice President Product/Research and Development in 2012.
Torsten Gessner started his career as Chief Operating Officer at ThyssenKrupp CENE in 2005. In 2009 he became CEO of ThyssenKrupp's global Business Unit for Escalators and Passenger Boarding Bridges, headquartered in Germany. In 2012 Torsten Gessner moved to the USA to assume responsibility as CEO for the implementation of ThyssenKrupp's first regional organisation in North America headquartered in Chicago.
With a turnover of Euro8.3bn in the 2012 - 2013 financial year and 20,000 employees, North America is the biggest and most important foreign market of the Essen-based industrial and engineering group.
Oman: Raysut Cement reported a 17.8% increase in quarterly net profit after tax in the third quarter of 2014, according to Reuters. It made US$13.8m in July – September 2014 compared with US$11.7m in the corresponding period of 2013.