Gypsum industry news
Australia: Boral has rejected a proposed US$5/share takeover bid by Seven Group Holdings. The building materials producer received the bid on 10 May 2021 and then rejected it the following day, according to the Financial Review newspaper. Seven Group Holdings started buying shares in Boral in March 2020 and reached a 23% stake in the company by April 2021. Boral has continued a share buy-back programme it commenced in April 2021 as part of its response to the takeover attempt. Sources quoted by the newspaper also expect Boral to work with investment bank Jarden Australia in retaliation to Seven Group Holdings’ actions.
Boral completes sale of stake in USG Boral to Knauf
08 April 2021Australia: Boral has sold its 50% stake in USG Boral to Germany-based Knauf for US$1.02bn. The profit on sale after tax will go towards reducing the group’s net debt by 21% to US$1.15bn from US$1.45bn. This will leave a US$763,000 surplus for reinvestment or return to investors.
Following on from the sale, Boral has launched a share buy-back, ending in April 2022. It intends to purchase 10% of shares on issue. The group says that the USG Boral sale proceeds will fund the investment.
Chief executive officer and managing director Zlatko Todorcevski said “The sale of our 50% interest in USG Boral to Knauf for an attractive premium creates substantial value for Boral’s shareholders. The sale enables Boral to reduce net debt to our current target and create surplus capital available for return to shareholders, which is consistent with Boral’s financial framework.” He added “We believe that an on-market buy-back is the most effective method of returning this surplus capital to our shareholders.”
US: Eagle Materials has approved a plan to spin off its heavy materials and light materials businesses into two publicly traded entities, bowing to pressure from hedge fund Sachem Head Capital Management.
Sachem, which disclosed a 9% stake in Eagle Materials in March 2019, had earlier urged Eagle to separate its cement and wallboard businesses. After the split, Eagle’s heavy materials business will operate as a cement company, and the light materials business will continue to make gypsum wallboard and recycled paperboard.
“We believe that by pursuing the actions announced today the Eagle board is taking significant steps to unlock the company’s inherent value,” said Sachem Managing Partner Scott Ferguson, also commenting on planned changes to Eagle’s oil and gas proppants businesses.
The separation will be by a tax-free spin-off to Eagle shareholders and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2020. Both the new companies will have their headquarters in Dallas, Texas.
Philippe Jost appointed head of construction at Sika
29 March 2019Switzerland: Sika has appointed Philippe Jost as its new head of Construction and a member of group management with effect from 1 June 2019. He will succeeds Yumi Kan who will become the Regional Target Market Manager Concrete Asia/Pacific and Area Manager South Asia.
Jost, aged 47 years, began his career at Sika in 1997. He held various management positions at the Swiss and US national subsidiaries, before joining the corporate organisation in 2007, where he assumed the role of Corporate Target Market Manager Concrete, among others. In 2014 Jost was appointed Corporate Head Human Resources. He is a qualified civil engineer from ETH Zurich and holds an MBA from the London Business School. He is a Luxembourg national and is married with two children.
Saint-Gobain appoints Benoit Bazin as chief operating officer in organisational and portfolio review
28 November 2018France: Saint-Gobain has appointed Benoit Bazin as its chief operating officer in an organisational and portfolio review process. The ‘Transform & Grow’ program intends to create a new organisational structure with five reporting units to improve growth and allow for a more ‘agile’ group structure.
"Saint-Gobain is evolving in a fast changing market environment, which can be a source of substantial growth opportunities, provided we are sufficiently close to our markets and sufficiently agile. We are launching an ambitious transformation plan, 'Transform and Grow' based on two pillars, an in-depth transformation of the Group's organisational structure and an accelerated portfolio rotation program,” said chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Pierre-André de Chalendar.
The new structure will consist of five reporting units, with four regional businesses and a global High Performance Solutions unit. The new regional groups will be Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Americas and Asia-Pacific. The High Performance Solutions unit will include High-Performance Materials (HPM) and the Sekurit (automotive glass) business.
The program also plans to accelerate the group’s portfolio rotation. It is preparing to divest businesses worth around Euro1bn by the end of 2019. More than 10 companies of various sizes across all sectors are being actively prepared for divestment and three significant processes have already been launched.