News

Ambitious MTG is to spend €13.5 million on enlarging its plant in Monzón, Huesca, Spain - creating approximately 80 new jobs in the next two years.

The foundry, one of the most modern in Europe, is equipped with state-of-art technology for the production of wear parts for mining and construction earth moving machinery, with a current yearly production of 5,000tonnes. The multi-million euro investment, between 2014 and 2016, will go to new infrastructures and machinery to increase the site’s production c

Gorazdze, the Polish cement producer owned by HeidelbergCement, aims to increase its annual ready-mixed concrete sales by 1 million m³ to 3 million m³/year and its aggregate production from 6 million tonnes to 10 million tonnes/year by 2019.

The firm’s concrete and aggregate operating profit has systematically fallen over the last few years, and since 2012 has been around zero. Also part of the group’s ambitious new sales strategy, based on its in-house produced cement and aggregates, are plans to increa

Vietnam: Cement consumption, export grew nearly 10% in January-June 2014

Vietnam’s domestic cement consumption and exports rose by almost 10% to 33 million tonnes from January to June 2014, compared to the same period of 2013.

The encouraging figures were revealed by Vietnam Cement Association chairman Nguyen Quang Cung and reported by Vietnam Net. At present, cement plants that are operating in the country are able to produce over 70 million tonnes/year, which satisfies local demand for clinker and c

Italcementi, the Italian construction material specialist, has achieved a 99.42% subscription for its new share emission worth €497.1 million, La Repubblica has reported. The option offer is reported to have involved 103.62 million new shares, of which 103.03 million shares were subscribed. A total 1.394 option rights for 597,570 shares were not underwritten and will be offered on the market until tomorrow (8 July 2014).

With funding available of up to €54,603 (SEK 500,000), academic submissions are now being invited for pre-studies or similar projects that support the aims of the Volvo Construction Equipment-hosted Construction Climate Challenge.

A global initiative, Construction Climate Challenge (CCC) submissions are encouraged from all continents and people associated with universities, research institutes and similar organisations, with pre-studies being supported with funding over a period of nine months.

The CC

Lafarge’s Zambian branch has floated more shares on the stock market, increasing its floating capital to 25%. The French construction materials group received 25.1 million offers for 18.1 million shares in its Zambia operation. Following the move, the parent group will see its stake in the Zambian subsidiary decline to 77.37%. Lafarge Zambia is valued at €622.26 million.

ARM Cement of Kenya has reportedly taken full control of Rwanda-based Kigali Cement. The firm already owns 35% of Kigali Cement, and it has bought out shareholders who held a combined stake of 65% previously. The transaction giving the Kenyan company full control of Kigali cement was finalised in April this year. The cost of the deal was not revealed by ARM Cement, but going by the net asset value of Kigali Cement, it is estimated to be nearly €900,000. The deal will give ARM Cement a stronger foothold in E

HeidelbergCement aims to offload its US and British building products business this year to have the best chance of buying cement assets that Lafarge and Holcim must sell to complete a near €30 billion merger, a source with knowledge of the company's plan has told the Reuters news agency.

Lafarge and Holcim have committed to shed around €5 billion of assets to secure approval from competition authorities for their tie-up. HeidelbergCement's stated priority is debt reduction but the German firm may seize

Blackstone, Cinven and a Canadian pension fund are said by the UK’s Financial Times (FT) newspaper to be exploring a joint bid for €5 billion worth of assets earmarked for sale by cement makers Lafarge and Holcim.

The move by the two private equity groups and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said by the FT to have been disclosed by two people familiar with the talks, is the latest claimed interest from buyout groups in the facilities to be sold by the world’s two largest cement groups to help wi

Blackstone, Cinven and a Canadian pension fund are said by the UK’s Financial Times (FT) newspaper to be exploring a joint bid for €5 billion worth of assets earmarked for sale by cement makers Lafarge and Holcim.

The move by the two private equity groups and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said by the FT to have been disclosed by two people familiar with the talks, is the latest claimed interest from buyout groups in the facilities to be sold by the world’s two largest cement groups to help wi

Semen Indonesia will next year to set up a new €219.6 million cement plant in Vietnam, according to the Jakarta Post. The new plant will serve the Vietnamese domestic market and export to Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Singapore. Construction of the new plant is said by the newspaper to be earmarked to begin in early 2015. It will produce 1.5 million tonnes/cement annually.

In a further development at Semen Indonesia, a state-run cement maker, the firm has also reportedly entered into an offtake deal with T

Urbanisation is driving a rise in construction projects and the need for more Portland cement, according to a new Transparency Market Research (TMR) report.

The new report titled ‘Global Portland Cement Market: Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2013-2019’ also highlights how growth in nuclear families, the increasing need for investment in infrastructure and rising disposable income are set to increase demand for Portland cement within the forecast period. TMR also notes an exponential r