Cemex continues Asian growth Cemex announced that it reached an agreement in principle with JG Summit Holdings, a Philippine public company, to invest in Apo Cement Corp. In addition, Cemex increased its investment in Rizal Cement Co., a Philippines-based cement producer. These transactions allow Cemex to increase its presence in the Philippine cement market, consolidating the company's position as the country's second-largest cement producer.

Apo has a 3 million mt production capacity, including an expansion that will be in place in spring 1999.

Cemex plans to acquire a 99.9% interest in Apo in conjunction with Philippine investors through a Philippine company. As part of the agreement, Cemex will have the right to designatethe members of the board of directors of Apo. With a planned investment of $400 million, Cemex also will obtain the economic rights to 99.9% of Apo's paid in capital. Apo has $100 million of debt.

Cemex acquired the economic rights of an additional 40% interest in Rizal Cement for a total consideration of $128 million. Cemex already has acquired a 30% participation in the paid in-capital of Rizal in October 1997. Rizal has 2.8 million mt of capacity and $31 million of debt.

In a separate transaction, Cemex secured an additional 6% stake in Indonesia's PT Semen Gresik through a public tender offer for $1.38 per share, or $49.1 million. This move increases Cemex's interest in Gresik to 22%. Gresik has an installed capacity of 17.2 million mt and is the market leader in Indonesia.

Ciments Frangais joins forces with Thai firm Jalaprathan Cement Public Co. Ltd. approved the terms of an equity participation with Ciments Frangais, the international arm of Italcementi Group, to directly own 49% of its equity.

Jalaprathan, listed on the Bangkok Stock Exchange, is the fifth-largest national cement producer in Thailand. The company operates two cement plants with dry and semi-dry processes, and has a network of concrete batching plants in the Bangkok area. The two plants, one south and one north of Bangkok, have a combined annual capacity of 2 million mt.

The acquisition represents the first step Italcementi has taken into Southeast Asia, where the group is presently reviewing a number of other opportunities.

Lafarge moves into Jordan According to The Wall Street Journal, Lafarge signed an agreement with Jordan to buy a 33.09% stake in the nation's only cement company, Jordan Cement Factories, for about $102 million.

Ciments Frangais ups its stake in Bulgaria Ciments Frangais, the international arm of Italcementi, signed an agreement with the Bulgarian government as the exclusive buyer of the Vulkan cement plant, located in the Dimitrovgrad area of the country. The facility has a total annual capacity of 750,000 mt of cement, and it will be added to the group's existing operations in Bulgaria, where it owns Devnya cement plant (with 2 million-mtpy capacity).

Ciments Frangais signed the contract for 70% of the shares of Vulkan on Feb. 3, 1999, with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works after receiving approval from the Supervisory Board of Privatization Agency. The completion of the transaction is subject to a favorable decision by the Commission for Protection of the Competition.

With this acquisition, Italcementi will have a 40% share of the Bulgarian market.

Pakistani cement makers told to drop prices Pakistan's Monopoly Control Authority (MCA), after conducting a special inquiry into a recent cement price hike, issued "show-cause" notices to 22 cement manufacturers who supply the region, according to the Business Recorder.

The MCA's report indicates that the most recent uniform price raise-from Rs 140 ($2.73) to Rs 240 ($4.68) per 50-kg bag-could not have happened without the development of a cartel among the manufacturers, which is prohibited by Pakistani law. The price hike was considered by the MCA to be a great threat to the local construction industry, which might not be able to absorb such a significant change in prices.

After lengthy negotiations with the Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association, MCA rejected a plea to continue at the existing prices. The association claims that manufacturers have experienced losses to the tune of Rs 2 billion ($39 million) in the last two years due to high excise duties, sales taxes, and other levies. The MCA said it wants prices to drop to about Rs 175 ($3.41) per bag, claiming that the current level of Rs 240 has already netted cement makers an extra Rs 100 million ($1.95 million) since October 1998.

Currently, the MCA is preparing for formal judicial hearings on the matter.

Cembureau adopts the Euro On Jan. 1, 1999, the new European currency, the Euro, was adopted. On that day, Cembureau, the European Cement Association, also adopted the Euro for all its financial operations and dealings with non-European Union members, as well as members in all 24 Cembureau countries in Europe.

The adoption of the Euro brought about changes to the day-to-day management of Cembureau in the areas of human resources, accounting practices, invoicing and payment procedures, members contributions, pricing and sales of publications, and information exchanges with national administrations.

Representatives from the association see the changeover as a way to eliminate exchange risk, lower operating costs, and improve efficiency within the group. A Euro project manager has been designated within Cembureau to be responsible for providing staff and members with all the necessary information to assess the Euro's impact on Cembureau activities, identify all key issues, and implement the changeover.

Israeli company sets sights on Asia Nesher Israeli Cement Enterprises is looking into buying Indian and East Asian cement companies, a representative of Nesher told Dubai's Khaleej Times.

Clal Industries and Investment Ltd. and Koor Industries each control 50% of Mashav Initiating & Development, which in turn owns all of Nesher. The company has a monopoly on Israeli cement production. The chief executive of Clal, Rimon Ben-Shaul, said the company was in the preliminary stages of evaluating two different companies but declined to discuss details.

He added that Nesher's decision reflected the company's growth potential, rather than fears of falling revenues from the slow down in the Israeli housing market and cuts in state-controlled cement prices.

CBR makes offer to Polish group A tender offer made by the CBR Group of Belgium to acquire the shares it did not already own or control in its main Polish subsidiary, ZCW Gorazdze, was successfully completed Jan. 8, 1999. The transaction was settled Jan. 25.

CBR Baltic BV, a fully owned subsidiary of Cimenteries CBR, collected through the bid more than 2 million shares, representing 27.77% of Gorazdze's outstanding capital. The CBR Group now controls 82.93% of the company through CBR Baltic and Cemfund, a subsidiary of CBR Baltic. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Silo upgrades completed at Blue Circle plant The installation of a major 36-mt lift marked the completion to new cement dispatch silos being built as part of a #35 million ($57.2 million) investment program at Blue Circle's Dunbar works in the United Kingdom.

The latest lift is part of a comprehensive upgrade of Dunbar's cement storage and distribution facilities, alone costing #10 million ($16.4 million). Two 250-mt-capacity cranes were needed to lift the 36-mt unit, which houses the cement transfer piping, dust filters, and level probes, on top of two 2,000-mt-capacity silos. The silos will be used for loading cement into Blue Circle's familiar yellow and blue bulk road tankers.

The company is increasing annual production capacity at its east coast Scottish plant from 850,000 to 1 million mt and equipping it to make more products. Most of the new equipment also has been selected and designed to improve significantly Dunbar's environmental performance. More than 90% of these projects are expected to bring improvements in this area.