Chile: Peru-based Unacem has bought CBB’s Cemento San Antonio grinding plant in Valparaíso region for US$30.8m. The deal also covers the nearby Popeta pozzolano deposit.

China: Hebei province will screen out a total of 1000 existing factories for replacement with less-polluting alternatives under the Chinese government’s 14th Five Year Plan, which covers the period up to the end of 2025. The Xinhua News Agency has reported that factories, including cement plants, will undergo upgrades in order to conform to the plan’s emissions restrictions or close down. The province currently has a total of 233 green factories. Under the 13th Five Year Plan, which concluded in 2020, it reduced its installed cement production capacity by 12Mt/yr.

Ireland: CRH says that it completed a further phase of its share buyback programme in late December 2021 with the acquisition of shares worth US$300m. The figure brings the company’s total investment in its on-going share buyback programme to US$2.9bn since it started in mid-2018. CRH has now launched the next phase of the programme, to continue until March 2022, during which time it plans to acquire a further US$300m-worth of its shares. France-based financier Societe Generale will act as principal for the repurchases on the Euronext Dublin exchange.

India: The nine-year-old son of an ACC executive has returned home after being kidnapped in Bargarh, Odisha. The child was playing locally on the evening of 2 January 2022 when two men on a motorcycle abducted him, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. They left a ransom note demanding around US$13,400 for his return. Following a search, police found the boy roaming the countryside shortly before midnight on the same day. They believe the assailants abandoned their plans after learning that the authorities had effectively prevented their escape by sealing the local area. The hunt for the suspects continues.