Gypsum industry news

Australia: Boral, already dealing with financial difficulty even before the coronavirus pandemic, has withdrawn its full-year profit guidance and warned that it will likely have to re-work its complex wallboard buyout transaction with USG / Knauf. The US$441m deal, announced in August 2019 with Knauf will likely need to be changed, after the Australasian component of it attracted the attention of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Under the complicated deal between USG Boral and Knauf, Boral was to pay US$200m for the other 50% of USG Boral that it did not already own in Australia, and US$241m for a 50% stake of the plasterboard joint venture in Asia. Knauf then had a call option to return to 50% ownership of the Australasian business within five years.

However, the ACCC is now looming as a roadblock. "As Boral and Knauf work with regulators as part of an ongoing process to obtain the relevant approvals, Boral's view now is that the ACCC is unlikely to approve the call option in relation to the Australian and New Zealand business," said Boral in a statement. This means a range of other options will be considered for the transaction.

UK: Plans have been submitted for a gypsum wallboard production facility in Newport, Wales. Put forward by Associated British Ports (ABP), which owns the city’s port, the 15,000m² plant would be built next to Alexandra Docks. Once complete, the facility would be leased to a manufacturer by ABP.

A design and access statement prepared by Adams Hendry Consulting on behalf of the applicant said, “The manufacturing facility will make an important contribution to the local economy by providing new jobs, including manufacturing and office jobs. “It will generate approximately 70 full-time equivalent (FTE) direct jobs and it is estimated that the facility will support an additional 130 indirect jobs in the supply chain. The facility is expected to operate 24 hours per day over three shifts year-round.”

ABP requested an environmental impact assessment screening opinion for the application in July 2019, although Newport City Council decided in December 2019 that this was not required.