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US: In 2014 ExxonMobil's Equipment Builder Group is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The group specialises in working alongside leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in more than 150 countries to develop high-performance lubricants.
Sephaku Cement posts US$1.37m loss in its first year 08 July 2014
South Africa: Costs relating to Sephaku Holdings' new cement business Sephaku Cement dragged the group to a loss in the year that ended in March 2014, though management has said that indications are positive for its cement venture.
Sephaku Holdings has a 36% share of Sephaku Cement, which in January 2014 completed the construction of two plants in North West Province and Mpumalanga. Nigeria's Dangote Cement is the majority shareholder in Sephaku Cement. Sephaku Holdings reported a post-tax loss of US$260,300 in the period under review, largely due to a loss from Sephaku Cement of US$1.37m.
Sephaku Holdings' latest results include little revenue from the cement business, as one of the plants began producing only in January 2014 and the other is due to begin production in July 2014. The South African cement market is currently oversupplied and is likely to remain that way for some time, but Sephaku and another newcomer, Mamba Cement, are banking on healthy demand growth and cost-efficiency advantages from their modern plants. Mamba has a plant under construction near Northam in Limpopo.
South Africa: Zambezi Portland Cement Limited has released a new cement product, Timange, which it said is suitable for the African climate.
"Zambezi Portland Cement Limited has announced another high quality cement, the Timange 32.5N Portland limestone cement," said sales and marketing manager, Isaac Ngoma. "This new product is a new generation 3-s formula product, a complete cement solution for the African climate as it requires less curing. This is a multi-purpose value addition cement with solid setting and rock strength. Timange cement has a super setting capacity with supreme sustainability."
"Good quality clinker is intermixed with limestone and gypsum while maintaining better particle size distribution to produce this low heat cement, which is ideal for road works, dams, plastering and other structural use," added Ngoma.
UK: Anglo American has announced that it plans to sell its equity in its joint venture project with Lafarge UK. Anglo American plans to use the proceeds of the sale to pay off debt.
Once it owns the entire firm, Lafarge plans to sell it to help it gain approval from competition regulators for its merger with Holcim. Lafarge and Holcim need to shed around Euro5bn in assets to persuade regulators to back the merger. Lafarge and Holcim's merger is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015.
"The sale will be subject to a number of conditions, including the completion of the Lafarge / Holcim merger, the divestment of Lafarge Tarmac being accepted as a suitable remedy, and approval of this sale transaction by the necessary regulators," said Anglo American.
Europe: Lafarge and Holcim have set up a Divestment Committee following the announcement of the planned merger on 7 April 2014, with the aim of taking forward the divestment process. The Committee has drawn up a list of proposed asset disposals to anticipate potential competition authorities' requirements. The announcement represents a major part of the total assets that the two companies aim to divest.
The two companies are proposing the following disposals:
• Austria: Lafarge's Mannersdorf cement plant;
• France: Holcim's assets in metropolitan France, except for its Altkirch cement plant and aggregates and ready-mix sites in the Haut-Rhin market; Lafarge's assets on Reunion island; except for its shareholding in Ciments de Bourbon;
• Germany: Lafarge's assets;
• Hungary: Holcim's assets;
• Romania: Lafarge's assets;
• Serbia: Holcim's assets;
• UK: Lafarge Tarmac assets with the possible exception of one cement plant.
• Canada: Holcim's assets;
• Mauritius: Holcim's assets;
• The Philippines: the associated companies of Lafarge and Holcim (Lafarge Republic Inc and Holcim Philippines Inc) are exploring the combination of their businesses other than LRI's Bulacan, Norzagaray and Iligan plants, which are considered to be divested as part of such combination;
• Brazil: Holcim and Lafarge will file soon with the Brazilian regulator (CADE) and propose a comprehensive and high quality package of divestments.
The future LafargeHolcim group will have a significant and balanced industrial base in Europe, enabling it to take advantage of the European economic recovery. Both companies will continue to consider whether divestments would be necessary where there might be overlaps or depending on regulatory requirements.
The proposed divestments are subject to review and further discussions with the regulatory authorities. The divestment process will be carried out in the framework of the relevant social processes and ongoing dialogue with the employee representatives' bodies and will be conducted in parallel to discussions with the competition authorities and potential buyers. The divestment process will be completed subject to the closing of the merger between Holcim and Lafarge.
Find out exactly which cement plants are affected by Holcim and Lafarge's proposed asset divestments in the Global Cement Directory 2014, available here.