Pakistan: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has approved the proposed acquisition of Attock Cement Pakistan by Fauji Cement Company and Kot Addu Power following a Phase-I review under the Competition Act of 2010.

The buyers filed a pre-merger application on 3 February 2026 to acquire a controlling stake in Attock Cement from Pharaon Investment Group under a scheme of arrangement dated 30 January 2026. Completion of the transaction will give Fauji Cement and Kot Addu Power joint control of the listed cement producer.

The competition watchdog said that, although the deal involves a horizontal overlap between Fauji Cement and Attock Cement, the combined entity's market share would remain below the statutory dominance threshold. The commission concluded that the transaction is unlikely to create or strengthen a dominant position or substantially lessen competition, and authorised the deal under Section 11 of the Competition Act.

UK: Holcim UK is advancing construction of its Tilbury Cement Works, targeting completion of steelwork and mechanical equipment installation for a new vertical roller mill in spring 2026. Electrical installation testing and commissioning of the full grinding system are planned for completion later in 2026, with initial operations starting by the end of the year.

The vertical roller mill will grind granulated blast furnace slag and recycled concrete fines to produce low-carbon cementitious products. The facility will operate 24/7 to serve customers across the south of England from six loading heads and five weighbridges. Other investments at the facility include a ship-to-shore conveyor, a 50,000t raw material storage hall and a 30,000t cement dome silo. Five steel silos will provide a further 6500t of additional storage.

Spain: Molins recorded sales of €1.37bn in 2025, in line year-on-year, with comparable sales growth across all regions. Net profit was €185m, up by 1% year-on-year. It said that effective pricing management and the integration of new businesses in Portugal and Southeast Europe offset the negative impact of foreign exchange movements, particularly in Argentina and Mexico. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached €356m, in line with the previous year, while like-for-like sales rose by 8% and EBITDA by 10%. The company invested €170m during 2025, up by 74% year-on-year, with 40% allocated to sustainability, digitalisation and efficiency and 60% to growth initiatives.

CEO Marcos Cela said “2025 has once again been a year of solid results and the culmination of our commitment to growth across all businesses, aligned with the priorities of our strategic plan. These results reflect the dedication and execution capabilities of our teams. During the year, we completed acquisitions such as Concremat and Baupartner, advanced the new industrialised construction plant in central Spain, strengthened our construction solutions facility of Quer in Spain, and expanded our urban landscape presence with a new plant in the United States.”

Molins updated its decarbonisation strategy, targeting a 20% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions per tonne of cementitious product by 2030 compared to 2023, and has submitted the targets to the Science Based Targets initiative for validation.

Germany: Loesche signed an exclusive partnership with Metso Corporation to introduce the Metso Loesche vertical roller mill dry grinding technology for mineral processing applications. The collaboration combines Loesche’s vertical roller mill technology with Metso’s mineral processing solutions and global service capabilities.

Global head of mining applications at Loesche Stefan Baaken said “With Metso at our side, we are excellently positioned to offer significant added value to the mining industry and actively shape the transition to more resource-efficient processes. Our VRM technology has a proven track record, with more than 2400 references in the cement and other industries worldwide. We are delighted to now be able to use this proven technology in mineral processing, where it offers considerable advantages.”

Metso said that the new technology provides a steeper, more uniform particle size distribution and reduced oxidation of sulphide mineral particles to improve downstream processing performance.