Cement News tagged under: Kenya

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Kenya's cement consumption falls to 1.4Mta in 2Q18

13 July 2018, Published under Cement News

Cement demand in Kenya has fallen to 1.4Mta in the second quarter of the year, according to a report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The agency attributes the drop to a continued slowdown in real estate activity. In the first quarter of 2017 domestic cement consumption reached 1.5Mt but has since decreased. Furthermore, the continuing decline was also reflected in a 15.7 per cent drop in cement imports as well as in an eight per cent fall in clinker imports during the...

ARM negotiating US$120m loan deal with IFC

12 July 2018, Published under Cement News

ARM Cement Ltd of Kenya is trying to reach an agreement with the International Finance Corp about a capital injection of US$120m in loans, acccording to ARM's Chief Executive Officer, Pradeep Paunrana. "Nobody just gives you US$120m without conditions," Mr Paunrana said. "We are in discussions, it is not a facility, it is a term sheet. There are conditions attached to this." The main conditions include a return to profitability and getting an equity investor during the next nine to 12 mont...

ARM asks for time after missing bond payment

10 July 2018, Published under Cement News

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed that the ARM Cement missed its June 2018 interest payment on a privately placed bond worth tens of millions of Kenyan shillings. The bond was issued in 2015 with the medium-term notes (MTN) maturing in November 2020 and expected to pay interest each June and December, according to the Business Daily. "We're asking our lenders to give us some time so that we can recapitalise the business, we're in negotiation for injection of between US$15m and US$20...

Pokot Cement still waiting to get off the ground

09 July 2018, Published under Cement News

The continued delay in establishing the Pokot Cement factory in Kenya, is infuriating local residents who expect to benefit from new job opprotunities. Today, prime land in the area whose value had risen, no longer attracts the interest of potential buyers, with the township remaining largely inactive. West Pokot County Executive Committee member for trade, Monges Lotodo, said the authorities sought audience with the Ministry of Mining a month ago concerning the delayed plant. "We have co...

LafargeHolcim

02 July 2018, Published under Cement News

LafargeHolcim has started its EUR100m+ investment in its Martres-Tolosane plant in Haute Garonne,  southern France, with completion envisaged in 2020. This should enable the use of alternative materials in clinker production to be increased from 39 to 80 per cent and the overall capacity of the works to be raised by some 20 per cent. Huaxin Cement, a 41.8 per cent-owned LafargeHolcim associate has formed a 50 per cent-owned associate in Nepal to build a US$140m cement works at Dhading. Hu...

Bamburi Cement completes construction of grinding plant

29 June 2018, Published under Cement News

Kenya’s Bamburi Cement has announced that construction of its 0.9Mta grinding plant at Athi River, south of Nairobi, has been completed. The facility represents a KES4bn (US$39.62m) investment and is part of the company’s expansion plan launched in 2015. "The contractor is on schedule and will soon be handing the project over to the company for full operation," said Seddiq Hassani, CEO, Bamburi Cement. The company’s Power Plus and Power Max brands will be relocated from Mombasa to the new...

Samson wins Kenyan order for Eco Hoppers

28 June 2018, Published under Cement News

Following a lengthy tender process S AMSON Materials Handling Ely/UK was successful in winning the contract to provide TradeMark East Africa/Kenya Port Authority with four Eco Hoppers to import clinker, coal and gypsum. To adhere to strict performance and environmental requirements these Eco Hoppers are decked with inlet grills with suction capacity, a reverse-jet cleaning system, air compressors, a flex-flap filtration system creating a pressure differential between the inner and outer h...

ARM Cement to relinquish Tanzania assets

18 June 2018, Published under Cement News

ARM Cement will include KES854.6m (US$8.45m) of additional assets in Tanzania to sweeten the deal for buyers of the company’s non-cement business, according to The Citizen. The company reached an agreement to sell its fertiliser and mineral production businesses in Kenya to Swiss firm Omya and Pinner Heights Ltd (PHL), a company owned by its CEO, Pradeed Paunrana, for KES1.6bn. Its latest annual report ARM said that the buyers could also acquire its non-cement operations in Tanzania for f...

CDC changes leadership at ARM to halt the decline

04 June 2018, Published under Cement News

British development financiers CDC have brought in Sophia Bianchi and Rohit Anand as new directors at ARM Cement, to replace replaced Ketso Gordhan and Pepe Meijer, after seeing its investment in Kenya’s Athi River Mining (ARM) plummet buy more than 90 per cent in just three years. CDC reported a KES6.9bn (US$68m) loss for the 2017 financial year on declining sales. The UK-based investment firm had to act to try and halt the slide. "The replacement of two board nominees…bring in subst...

East African Portland Cement Co to build inland container depot

13 April 2018, Published under Cement News

East African Portland Cement Co wants to establish an inland container depot in Athi River to deliver imported raw materials to its plant via the standard-gauge railway. Managing Director. Simon Peter Ole Nkeri. said the move could ease costs of finished products and make Kenya-made goods affordable in east Africa and competitive on the global stage. "We heavily rely on imported raw materials like clinker for the manufacture of cement. We are engaging the government on this issue and ar...