Displaying items by tag: acquisition

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has acquired ABC Broyage, which operates a slag grinding plant in North Dordogne. The producer says that ABC Broyage will import granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) via La Rochelle and supply ground GBFS to its H1 and H2 green cement plants in Bournezeau. This will give Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies self-sufficiency in its raw materials processing.

Co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said “Managing our supply chain has always been one of Hoffmann Green's strategic priorities. After securing our supplies of co-products and their storage, we are now focusing on optimising their processing through the acquisition of ABC Broyage and the development of vertical integration.” Blanchard and Hoffmann noted that, besides strengthening the company’s control over its raw materials supply, ABC Broyage’s slag grinding capacity also secures its margins in the ‘current highly inflationary context.’

UK: LKAB Minerals says it is aiming to complete its acquisition of Francis Flower on 3 December 2018. It added that the planning acquisition had also received clearance from the Austrian Competition Authority.

UK: Sweden’s LKAB Minerals has signed a deal to buy Francis Flower. The acquisition is intended to bring a portfolio of sustainable products into LKAB Minerals’ portfolio. Implementation of the agreement is subject to Austrian merger clearance. Both parties are confident that the merger control process will be completed by the end of November 2018. No value for the agreement has been disclosed.

Francis Flower is a family owned business, and the main shareholder is the current chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Adrian Willmott, who upon completion of the sale will resign his position in the business but remain available in a consultancy capacity during an integration phase. The company will be integrated into LKAB Minerals’ existing UK business under the leadership of Darren Wilson, who manages the UK and European business within LKAB Minerals.

Francis Flower recycles blast furnace slag from the steel industry for production of ground granulated blast furnace slag for use in cement production, among other offerings for industrial and agricultural use. It employs 130 people across four sites in the UK: Scunthorpe, Wicken, Gurney Slade and Runcorn.

LKAB Minerals in the UK has a similar size business across four sites and employs around 160 people. Its main operations are processing and marketing of minerals, primarily for the building, construction, polymer, coating, refractory and foundry industries.

“We have an ambition of growing the industrial minerals business significantly over time, to balance LKAB’s growing iron ore production,” said Leif Boström, Senior Vice President for the Special Products Division in LKAB and CEO of LKAB Minerals group. “This will strengthen LKAB Minerals’ offering to the building and construction industries.”

Slovenia: SIJ Acroni, part of SIJ Group, has acquired the operations and equipment for processing slag from Harsco Minerali for an undisclosed sum. Previously the company used Harsco Minerali for the service, according to the Slovenian Press Agency. SIJ Acroni has taken over both Harsco's activity and equipment, and invited all Harsco employees to join the company.

Harsco Minerali processed 0.2Mt of slag for SIJ in 2017. The company mainly processed old slag deposits but new slag is created on an on-going basis during steel production. The processing products are used as inputs for asphalt and other engineering materials including insulation, and some products can be recycled for steel production. Harsco Minerali reported sales of Euro12m in 2016 and a net loss of Euro0.22m.

"By taking over the equipment and operations of Harsco Minerali we shall process what was once waste material into a by-product that we shall use in the subsequent production process or sell as an input material for construction, road construction, and environment remediation," said SIJ Acroni managing director Branko Žerdoner.

US: Charah has purchased SCB International to jointly develop and deploy technologies including fly ash beneficiation and mineral grinding technologies. Its intentions are to target: the beneficiation of fly ash for sale to concrete producers; processing kiln dust to remove mercury for emissions regulations compliance; and grinding granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) and pozzolan for sale to concrete producers. Charah says that the acquisition will also allow it to more than double the volume of materials available to its customers.

“By leveraging SCB’s diversity of materials available and by benefiting from their experience in sourcing materials overseas, we see great potential in marketing the fly ash beneficiation and grinding technologies to our customers, both utilities and concrete producers,” said Scott Ziegler, Vice President of Ash Sales and Marketing at Charah.

As part of this agreement, Charah has acquired SCB’s proprietary fly ash beneficiation technology which will allow Charah to improve the quality of fly ash produced by electric utilities and to increase Charah’s supply of fly ash to concrete producers in the US. Charah also will deploy grinding technologies for GBFS and pozzolan and will market these supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to the manufacturers of concrete products.

Both the ash beneficiation and the mineral grinding technologies will support Charah’s expanding MultiSource fly ash distribution network. The MultiSource fly ash network will help ensure that Charah can provide a steady and reliable supply of SCMs for ready mix concrete producers throughout the US.

Charah provides ash management, fly ash sales and marketing and utility support services for the coal-fired power generation industry. Its services include landfill design, construction, management, operations and closure; fly ash, bottom ash and gypsum sales and marketing; ash pond management and closure; structural fill projects; and power plant support services including limestone supply and flue-gas desulfurisation operations

South Korea: Baring Private Equity Asia has sold Halla Cement to Asia Cement for US$723m. The combined business will be the third largest cement player in Korea, with a combined market share of 19%.

Baring Private Equity Asia bought Lafarge Halla Cement from LafargeHolcim in 2016. It took full control of the cement producer in 2017. It was then reported to be shortlisting potential buyers for the company in September 2017.

Halla Cement operates one cement plant at Okgye and three slag cement grinding plants. It has a cement production capacity of 7.6Mt/yr. It also runs 11 distribution centres in the country, consisting of seven coastal and four inland centres.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem has announced that it purchased a 50% stake in Ecotrade in early 2017. Ecotrade supplies industrial byproducts, such as fly ash and blast furnace slags, from power plants and steel mills to the cement industry with deliveries of over 2Mt/yr at its peak. The company is a member of the Italian Register of Environmental Operators and it has a national distribution network in Italy. Buzzi Unicem intends to use Ecotrade’s expertise to expand its operations internally.

South Korea: Ssangyong Cement has purchased a 100% stake in Daehan Cement for US$232.8m. Ssangyong Cement has signed an agreement with Hahn & Company to buy the stake from the private equity firm, according to the Maeil Business Newspaper. Daehan Cement is the country’s largest slag cement producer. Ssangyong Cement’s purchase is expected to preserve the cement producer’s market lead against Hanil Cement which bought Hyundai Cement earlier in 2017.

UK: Breedon has agreed to acquire the Sherburn Minerals Group for a total consideration of up to Euro18.4m, subject to completion adjustments. The acquisition will add Sherburn’s two terminals in northeast England and eastern Scotland, that are used to import cement and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), to Breedon’s Hope cement plant.

Sherburn is an independent heavyside building materials business headquartered in County Durham, employing approximately 110 people. It operates four quarries and five ready-mixed concrete plants in County Durham, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Cumbria. It also distributes cementitious products from two import terminals at Blyth near Newcastle and Dundee in eastern Scotland.

Following completion of the acquisition Paul Allison, Sherburn’s current Managing Director and a minority shareholder, will remain with the business as a consultant.

South Africa: Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium's bankruptcy protection practitioners have named International Resources Limited (IRL) as the successful bidder for South Africa's second-largest steel producer.

Hong Kong's IRL has offered US$26.2m to settle creditors' claims against Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium and US$1.49m as a payment to shareholders. IRL, which has interests in mining, forestry and real estate, would invest a further US$307m in the business over the next three to four years to refurbish equipment and build a 200MW cogeneration plant. The company would also increase steel production to pre-2008 levels of 910,000t/yr within 18 months. Following the completion of the capital upgrade, steel production would be increased to 1.5Mt/yr over the next three to four years. In addition, IRL intends to establish an ultra-high grade 23,000t/yr vanadium pentoxide production line. The commissioning of a 200,000t/yr titanium slag production line, producing 75% titanium, would further enhance Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium's production site.

Should IRL's proposal be accepted, the company would start production as soon as possible. As an alternative, IRL proposed to buy Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium as a going concern for US$26.2m. If neither of the two proposals is accepted, Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium would be wound down and creditors might receive between 10 - 14% of their claims.