Economy & Market

Lafarge a step closer towards divestment target

Published

14 years ago

May 31, 2011

admin

Lafarge has agreed to sell a number of its US cement and concrete assets to Colombian cement maker Cementos Argos for $760 million. The deal is an important step in meeting the divestment targets the heavily indebted French group set this year. "This transaction creates value for our shareholders while maintaining a strong network of operations for future growth in North America," said Bruno Lafont, chairman and chief executive of Lafarge. In February the world’s second-largest building materials producer by sales pledged to cut debt by ?? billion and set a global divestment target of at least ??50 million this year. The group had net debt of ??4.24 billion at the end of March. With the sales to Cementos Argos, Lafarge has achieved 71 per cent of its full year disposal target. The deal has to cleared by the US competition authorities. The assets, which include cement plants in South Carolina and Alabama, generated revenue of about $240 million, which represented about 5.5 per cent of sales in the North America region for Lafarge in 2010. Lafarge became indebted following a ??0.2 billion acquisition of Orascom Cement, the Middle East’s largest cement maker in 2007 and political unrest in Egypt this year, which hurt its first quarter-profits.

Concrete

Cement industry to gain from new infrastructure spending

Published

1 week ago

July 24, 2025

admin

As per a news report, Karan Adani, ACC Chair, has said that he expects the cement industry to benefit from the an anticipated US$2.2tn in new public infrastructure spending between 2025 and 2030. In a statement he said that ACC has crossed the 100Mt/yr cement capacity milestone in April 2025, propelling the company to get closer to its ambitious 140Mt/yr target by the 2028 financial year. The company’s capacity corresponds to 15 per cent of an all-India installed capacity of 686Mt/yr.

Image source:https://cementplantsupplier.com/cement-manufacturing/emerging-trends-in-cement-manufacturing-technology/

Concrete

AI boom drives demand, says ACA

Published

1 week ago

July 24, 2025

admin

The American Cement Association projects a nearly 1Mt annual increase in US cement demand over the next three years, driven by the surge in AI data centres. Consumption by data centres is expected to grow from 247,000 tonnes in 2025 to 860,000 tonnes by 2027. With over 5,400 AI data centres currently operating and numbers forecast to exceed 6,000 by 2027, the association cautions that regulatory hurdles and labour shortages may impact the industry’s ability to meet demand.

Image source:https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1zOrih.img?w=2000&h=1362&m=4&q=79

Concrete

GoldCrest Cement to build plant in India

Published

1 week ago

July 23, 2025

admin

GoldCrest Cement will build a greenfield integrated plant with a 3.5Mt/yr clinker capacity and 4.5Mt/yr cement capacity. GoldCrest Cement appointed Humboldt Wedag India as engineering, procurement and construction contractor in March 2025 and targets completion by March 2027. It has signed a 40-year supply agreement with Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation for 150Mt of limestone from its upcoming Lakhpat Punrajpur mine in Gujarat.