Sabancı cement group eyes purchases in neighboring regions
18. August 2010. | 10:02 10:05
Source: Zaman
Sabancı Holding’s cement group has a partnership with German firm Heidelberg Cement in Akçansa and holds Çimsa as its subsidiary. It controls nearly 20 percent of the domestic market.
Sabancı Holding cement group President Mehmet Göçmen has said the company has no plans to increase capacity or purchase new facilities in the domestic market but is conducting studies for around 15 acquisitions in nearby regions, including the Balkans, the Black Sea area and the Mediterranean basin, which have the capacity to create synergy with existing facilities in Turkey and fuel the company’s growth potential.
Sabancı Holding’s cement group has a partnership with German firm Heidelberg Cement in Akçansa and holds Çimsa as its subsidiary. It controls nearly 20 percent of the domestic market.
Speaking to Reuters in an interview on Monday, Göçmen said the group has been working on these opportunities without feeling the pinch of the pressure of a deadline.
“We have already grown very big in Turkey and the turn has now come for abroad. We have enjoyed a fine-running partnership with Heidelberg in Turkey for 15 years and it is quite likely that we can carry the same model abroad as well,” he emphasized.
Göçmen said the group will use its own resources to finance the acquisitions without having to add extra capital to the company’s equities.
The group hopes to keep its combined turnover over $1 billion this year, he stressed, adding:
“The increasing prices of energy and fuel are putting pressure on our costs and this is creating pressure on profitability. Such a high growth in the domestic market is expected to yield better consequences, but it seems that this is not so likely. The operational profitability seems to be horizontal this year over the previous year. It may edge up a bit, but it will still be far from full, reflecting the growth in the market.” The company’s turnover last year was $1.3 billion.
The energy and fuel costs of Akçansa and Çimsa reach TL 400 million per year and waste-to-energy processing can cover only 3.5 to 4 percent of these costs, the president noted. However, he said the savings rate will likely reach 80 percent once regulations on waste processing come into effect. As an example, Göçmen says Akçansa meets 13 percent of its coal needs in its Büyükçekmece plant by burning waste.
In a final remark on the market, Göçmen said he expected no consolidation in the cement industry and that the entrance of a foreign player into the domestic market would be very surprising. On the contrary, he said, some foreign players may even leave the game in Turkey during the three years ahead.
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