India: CK Birla Group’s fibre cement roofing subsidiary HIL has agreed to acquire Fast Build Blocks for US$8.22m in a ‘slump sale.’ Fast Build Blocks produces autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks in Cuttack, Odisha. Press Trust of India News has reported that HIL is using the acquisition to establish a leadership position in the Eastern Indian market.

Poland: Switzerland-based Holcim has concluded an agreement to acquire ready-mix concrete producer Ol-Trans. Ol-Trans operates five batching plants and is the market leader in Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. Holcim says that its new customers in the region will benefit from access to its CO₂-saving products, including Agila Fibro self-compacting concrete, which can reduce steel reinforcement usage in construction by up to 50%.

Holcim’s Europe, Middle East and Africa regional head Miljan Gutovic said “With this acquisition we will further expand the footprint of ECOPact green concrete, the first and most comprehensive sustainable concrete range in Poland.”

Germany: Sweden-based Thomas Concrete Group has acquired a five-plant Rhineland-Palatinate-based concrete producer. The acquisition brings Thomas Concrete Group’s German concrete capacity to 1Mm²/yr across six federal states, 2% of domestic capacity. Germany has 1900 concrete plants in total.

South Korea: SK Group subsidiary SK Ecoplant has partnered with CMD Group to launch pilot production of building materials made using up to 60% recycled bottom ash from waste incinerators. The partners say that an exothermic reaction in the presence of non-sintered inorganic binders and expansion-reducing reactants increases the compressive strength of the end product to match that of concrete containing ordinary Portland cement (OPC).

AJU News has reported that South Korean waste incinerators produced 2.16Mt of bottom ash from 9.12Mt of waste in 2020.