According to a variety of sources, a group of overseas cement companies are competing with each other to secure India’s Lafarge cement assets sale.
The probable applicants list includes Votorantim, HeidelbergCement, CRH plc, and the Indian conglomerate JSW.
The Competition Commission of India directed Lafarge to dispose some of its assets last year. This directive came over trust issues that the company had with the Swiss major cement group Holcim, in April 2014. The concern of the CCI rose from the fact that Lafarge and Holcim would dominate the Indian market as each company produces a capacity of 68 metric tpy.
While Lafarge had its dominance over eastern India, Holcim through its subsidiaries, ACC and Ambuja dominated over the remaining Indian states.
Heidelberg and CRH are in the process of ramping up their capacities in India.
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World Cement Editor, David Bizley, sat down with Michael Tay, Advanced Analytics Product Manager at Rockwell Automation to discuss his recent article in World Cement.
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New research by GlobalData’s MEED has shown that the commercial value of construction contracts issued in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) fell by more than 50% in the first eight months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
Lafarge and Holcim reorganisation project launched in preparation for merger, with the aim of creating a ‘lean organisation with empowered countries, regional management platforms, and group functions for the combined company’.
Following the consolidation of its Nigerian and South African businesses, Lafarge Africa is set to make a bid to buy out the minority shareholders of Ashaka Cement.
Q3 results indicate the downward trend of the year-to-date continues, although the decline is slowing. Both groups have made efforts to improve operating efficiency and reduce debt.
