Lafarge CEO to visit Bangladesh

Bruno Lafont, Chairman and CEO of the Lafarge Group, is set to arrive in Dhaka, Bangladesh, today to review operations of its local subsidiary Lafarge Surma Cement.

An official of the Lafarge Group of France told CemNet News that Mr Lafont will travel to Bangladesh following a trip to India where he is also reviewing the company's operations in the neighbouring country. 

During the Bangladesh visit, Mr Lafont is plans to review LSC's business and strategies and is scheduled to visit LSC's Chhatak plant in Sunamganj whilst also meeting with staff. .

The company is already satisfying about eight per cent of total domestic cement market needs and 10 per cent of total clinker requirements.

During the January-September 2011 period, LSC reported a loss after tax of BDT2.07bn (US$25.55m) compared to loss of BDT42.511m in Jan-Sept 2010. It incurred financial charges of BDT1.012bn in the first nine months of 2011 against BDT498.69m in the comparable period of 2010. General and administrative expenses stood at BDT245.46m in Jan-Sept 2011 against BDT258.8m in the same period of 2010.
 
LSC's operations were set up with an investment of US$280m by Lafarge of France, Cementos Molins of Spain, leading Bangladeshi business houses together with International Finance Corporation (IFC - The World Bank Group), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), German Development Bank (DEG), European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO). The value is one of the largest foreign investments in Bangladesh to-date.