TMCnet News
CMS CEMENT BEGINS ACQUISITION OF SARAWAK CLINKER(Bernama The Malaysian National News Agency Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) from BERNAMA The Malaysian National News Agency KUCHING, Sept 3 (Bernama) -- CMS Cement Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS), today announced that it has started the acquisition of Sarawak Clinker Sdn Bhd in a move to become a fully integrated cement manufacturer CMS Cement together with entrepreneur Mirzan Mahathir, who is also president of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) and Maybach Investment Co, signed a share purchase agreement in Kuala Lumpur at the end of last week for the acquisition of 100 percent equity in Sarawak Clinker The acquisition is conditional upon approvals from the authorities concerned and subject to completion of a due diligence on the company CMS group managing director Datuk Richard Curtis called the sale an important step forward for cement supply in Sarawak, adding that it would lay the groundwork for further investment into the clinker plant in future "The acquisition of Sarawak Clinker will allow CMS Cement to increase efficiency and capacity, and be better positioned to tap markets beyond Sarawak as well as to meet increased demand within the state consequent to the focus on developing Sarawak's central region through the Regional Corridor of Development Authority," he said in a statement here He said the acquisition of Sarawak Clinker would be for a total cash consideration of RM110 million which might be adjusted in accordance with provisions in the share purchase agreement At the recent signing agreement, CMS Cement was represented by executive director Othman Abdul Rani Curtis and Maybach Investment by Ramon Ang and Mirzan Clinker is the raw material in the manufacture of cement and CMS Cement is currently Sarawak Clinker's only customer, supplying clinker from its plant located at Mambong, 21 kilometres from here CMS Cement, Sarawak's sole cement manufacturer, operates two plants in Kuching and Bintulu and has a total installed production capacity of 1.75 million tones per year According to Curtis, the acquisition of Sarawak Clinker is aimed at making CMS Cement a more efficient, low-cost integrated cement producer within six months of completion of the acquisition exercise In addition, by having its raw material supply in-house, CMS Cement will be able to expand its product mix beyond the Ordinary Portland cement which it currently produces The clinker plant operation consists of quarry, raw mill grinding, coal grinding and kiln-burning CMS Cement, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CMS group, began operations in 1974 while Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMSB) is the holding company for the CMS group, Sarawak's largest player in infrastructure development CMSB is listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia. Copyright 2007 Bernama Copyright 2007 Pertubuhan Berita Nasional Malaysia , Source: The Financial Times Limited |