Cement, Energy and Environment

• ' • revival in pending infrastructure projects, estimated at being worth ~ 7.5 lakh crore, will be enough toreignite the space and attract fresh investments. Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line, New Delhi, 11.06.2014, Pg. No. 10-11 OCL INDIA COMMISSIONS BENGAL UNIT OCL India Ltd, an associate company of Dalmia Cement Bharat Ltd, has commissioned a cement factory Bengal Cement Works at Godapiasal Industrial Park, West Midnapore, West Bengal. A press release from OCL said the 154-acre plant set up at an investment of~ 615 crore marks the initiation of the company's investment cycle in the State. OCL India has two cement plants at Cuttack and Rajgangpur in Odisha with a combined production capacity of 5.35 million tonnes a year. The release quoting Puneet Dalmia, Director, OCL India Ltd said, "We plan to scale up our presence in the Bengal market by completing the first phase of investment in the plant. Our high– capacity plant will ensure timely delivery of cement across the state, a significant emerging market for infrastructure development and thereby the cement industry." Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line, Chennai, 16.07.2014 Page No. 12 ULTRATECH CEMENT PLANS RS 10,000-CR CAPEX BY 2015 AV Birla Group's Ultratech Cement, the country's largest cement manufacturer, is planning a capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 10,000 crore over next one and half year to expand its cement production capacity to 70 million tonne (MT). According to chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, the outlook for the Indian economy has turned d'stinctly positive though the near term outlook for 1 ent sector remains challenging. "The cem ny's installed capacity has been scaled up compa ly 62 MT in the last fiscal. The company to near rked around Rs 10,000 crore to be has earma . . . d' .t d · tting up the remarnrng gnn rng un1 s, incurre m se . . t ' plants cement term1nals and other cl inkensa 10n · · Th . th current round of expans1ons. ese capex m e · h d are likely to be commissi~ned 1n a phaseh m 1 danner by 2015," wrote Birla in his letter to s are o ers. nt maj·or had last fiscal incurred a The ceme . Rs 2 228 crore towards its ongomg capex capex · programme. During the year, Ultratech had invested mainly in brownfield capacity expansion projects in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, a packaging terminal in Maharashtra, thermal power and waste-heat recovery plants, jetty expansion in Gujarat, ready mix concrete plants and other normal capex. Ultratech had last fiscal also acquired two cement plants with 4.8 mtpa capacity from Jaiprakash Associates at an enterprise value of Rs 3,800 crore. According to the company's 2014 annual report, the cement major had produced 40.79 mt of cement last year with effective capacity utilisation of 79%. Birla believes that despite a subdued growth of the industry, long-term fundamentals and growth prospects remain intact and the capacity additions would keep the company in the state of preparedness. The cement industry has in the recent past struggled due to higher capacity additions compared to incremental demand that resulted in sector capacity utilisation declining to below 70%. Courtesy: . The Financial Express, Mumbai, 19.07.2014 Pg. No. 8-9 Merger & Acquisition SAGAR CEMENTS TO SELL STAKE IN JV TO FRENCH PARTNER Sagar Cements has decided to sell its entire 47% stake in the joint-venture Vicat Sagar Cement Private to its French partner at a total price of R435 crore. Sagar Cements and the Vicat Group had entered into the joint venture in June 2008 with an objective of setting up a 5.5 million tonne cement plant in Gulbarga in Karnataka. In the first phase the joint venture company had set up a 2.75 million tonne capacity plant , which commenced production in January 2013. The first phase of this faci lity, capable of producing 2.75 million tonne, was completed in December 2012 with the commencement of production in January 2013. Sagar's contribution for the first phase was R86 crore for its stake in the joint venture. In a release to SSE, the company said its board of directors on Tuesday approved the sale of its entire stake of 65.23 million shares held in its joint venture to Parficim SAS, France, an affi liate of Vicat SA, France. The total consideration works out at R66.68 per equity share, Sagar Cements 13