11
june 2014
international
construction
BUSINESSNEWS
BUSINESSHIGHLIGHTS
ITALY
Salini Impregilo considers
issuing new capital
Italy’s largest contractor may sell new shares to
raise cash and increase its freefloat
S
alini Impregilo says it is considering issuing new shares for sale to
institutional investors. Equity equivalent to 10% of the company’s
existing capital could be issued, and at the same time majority
shareholder Salini Costruttori said it may sell some of its stake in Salini
Impregilo.
The company said it was considering the move to increase the free float
of Salini Impregilo shares – the shares in the company traded in public, as
opposed to those tied-up with controlling investors and other long-term
holders. Salini Costruttori currently owns 89.95% of Salini Impregilo, with
the remaining 10.05% - just under 45million shares – being traded as free
float.
However,SaliniCostruttori said that if itdidgoaheadwith theplan, itwould
retain enough equity to stay themajority share holder inSalini Impregilo.
Salini Impregilo is currently capitalised at around € 2 billion (US$ 2.7
billion), so the sale of new shares could raise in the region of € 200million
(US$270million.Thecompany said theproceedswouldbeused to strengthen
its capital base andpursue its business plan.
UK
GVA offer
German contractor Bilfinger has
made a takeover offer for UK
property consultant GVA Grimley.
Termsof theacquisitionof the€190
million (US$ 260million) per year,
1,500-employee company were not
disclosed.
Bilfinger said it would integrate
the company into its Bilfinger Real
Estate division, more than doubling
its current annual revenues of
€ 160 million (US$ 220 million).
Bilfinger says it is the market leader
in Germany for real estate and
facility services including design,
construction and management of
real estate.
ECUADOR
Lafarge sale
Lafarge has agreed to sell its 98.6%
share of its operations in Ecuador,
including a 1.4 million tonnes
per year cement plant, to Union
Andina de Cementos (UNACEM)
for US$ 553 million. UNACEM
is headquartered in Lima, Peru and
was formed in2012 from themerger
of Cementos Lima and Cemento
Andino.The acquisition of Lafarge’s
Ecuadorian businesses marks the
company’s first entry into the
country. In addition to its Peruvian
cement operations, UNACEM also
owns a majority stake in Drake
Cement, which is based in Arizona,
US.
FRANCE
Full acquisition
Italcementi has set an offer price
of € 79.50 (US$ 108.40) per share
to acquire the 16.2% of French
subsidiary Ciments Français that it
does not already own.The company
will finance the transaction with
an issue of up to € 500 (US$ 680
million)worthof itsownnew shares.
Italcementi said it was going
ahead with the deal to simplify its
corporate structure and strengthen
the group. It will see Ciments
Français shares delisted from the
Euronext exchange in Paris, France,
should Italcementi securemore than
95% of the company’s share capital
and voting rights.
VALUEOF 1:
SYMBOL AU$
BRL
UK£ CNY
€
INR
YEN MXN RUR SAR
ZAR KRW CHF
US$
AustralianDollar
AU$
0.48 0.553 5.79 0.679 55.0
95
11.96 32.4
3.47
9.93
948 0.830 0.926
BrazilianReal
BRL
2.09
0.264 2.77 0.325 26.3
45.3
5.72
15.5
1.66
4.75
453 0.397 0.443
BritishPound
UK£
1.81
3.78
10.5
1.23
99.5
172
21.6
58.6
6.28
18.0
1714 1.50
1.68
Chinese Yuan
CNY
0.173 0.361 0.095
0.117 9.50
16.4
2.07
5.60 0.600 1.714
164 0.143 0.160
Euro
€
1.47
3.08
0.81
8.53
81.0
140
17.6
47.7
5.11 14.62 1395 1.22
1.36
IndianRupee
INR
0.018 0.038 0.010 0.105 0.012
1.7
0.218 0.589 0.0631 0.180 17.2 0.0151 0.0168
Japanese Yen
YEN
0.011 0.022 0.006 0.061 0.007 0.580
0.1262 0.342 0.0366 0.1047 10.0 0.0088 0.0098
MexicanPeso
MXN
0.084 0.175 0.046 0.484 0.057 4.60
7.93
2.71 0.290 0.830
79
0.069 0.0774
RussianRuble
RUR
0.031 0.064 0.017 0.179 0.021 1.70
2.92 0.369
0.107 0.306 29.2 0.0256 0.0286
Saudi Riyal
SAR
0.288 0.602 0.159 1.668 0.196 15.840 27.307 3.445 9.336
2.86
273 0.239 0.267
SouthAfricanRand ZAR
0.101 0.211 0.056 0.583 0.068 5.541 9.552 1.205 3.266 0.350
95
0.084 0.093
SouthKoreanWon KRW
0.0011 0.0022 0.0006 0.0061 0.0007 0.0580 0.1001 0.0126 0.0342 0.0037 0.0105
0.00088 0.0010
Swiss Franc
CHF
1.21
2.52
0.67
6.98
0.82 66.29 114.29 14.42 39.07 4.19 11.96 1142
1.116
USDollar
US$
1.08 2.258 0.597 6.254 0.7334 59.4 102.4 12.92 35.01 3.75 10.72 1023.4 0.896
For exampleUS$ 1=AU$ 1.08
Exchange rates: May 2014
SWEDEN
VolvoConstruction
Equipment has closed its US$ 160
million acquisition of Terex’s UK-based
haulermanufacturing business. The
deal was announced inDecember and
will see rigid frame dump trucks added
to Volvo’s portfolio. The deal includes
a factory inMotherwell, UK and a
25.2% stake in InnerMongoliaNorth
Hauler Joint StockCo. (NHL), which
manufactures and sells rigid haulers
under the Terex brand inChina.
UK
JCB reported a -14% fall in
earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)
toUK£ 313million (US$ 525million)
last year, on revenues down -1%
UK£2.68 billion (
€
4.54 billion). The
company said it was a good result in
2013’s challenging global conditions.
SOUTHKOREA
Hyundai Cummins
EngineCompany (HCEC), a joint
venture betweenHyundai Heavy
Industries and diesel engine
manufacturer Cummins, has completed
construction of a 78,045m
2
engine
factory inDaegu, SouthKorea. The
factorywill supply Hyundai with
engines for its construction equipment
and has a capacity of 50,000 units
per year.
UK
Caterpillar subsidiary Perkins has
produced its 20millionth engine at its
facility in Peterborough, UK, 81 years
after the brandwas established. The
company said at least 4.5million of
the engines it hasmadewere still in
service.
US
KBR to re-state 2013 accounts
KBR is to re-state its accounts for
2013. It said it now expects tomake
a US$ 135 million pre-tax loss on
seven contracts to fabricate and
assemble pipe modules in Canada,
compared to thepreviously expected
US$23millionprofit.
Theproblems stem from abusiness
in Edmonton, Canada where KBR
says a rapid expansion resulted in
increased internal and external costs.
KBR added that most of the losses
had already been incurred, however,
it said the situationwas on-going, so
the amounts involvedmight change.
The company said it would file an
amended annual report as soon as
possible, andwill not file a report for
the first quarter of 2014 until this
was done.
