ARM Cement Limited

{{Short description|Mining and manufacturing company in Kenya}}

{{Infobox company|

name = ARM Cement Limited|

logo = |

type = Public Company
NSE: ARM|

company_slogan = |

foundation = 1974|

location = Nairobi, Kenya|

key_people = Rick Ashley
Chairman
Pradeep Paunrana
Managing Director & CEO|

revenue =US$15.4 million (KES:1.35 billion) (2013)|

assets =US$340 million (KES:29.7 billion) (2013)|

num_employees = |

industry = Manufacture & Distribution of Cement|

products = Cement|

homepage = [http://www.armafrica.com/ Homepage]|

|founder = Harjivandas Paunrana}}

ARM Cement Limited, formerly Athi River Mining Limited, but commonly referred to as ARM is a mining and manufacturing company in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. The company is headquartered in Nairobi and its stock is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.{{cite web|url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/-/2560/1910578/-/7j8yepz/-/index.html|title=ARM Cement Increases Tanzania Investment As Profit Up 28 Percent|date=10 July 2013|first=David|last=Mugwe|accessdate=18 October 2014|newspaper=The EastAfrican (Nairobi)}}

Overview

ARM Cement is one of the largest manufactures of cement in Eastern Africa, accounting for 2.6 metric tonnes annually in 2014. ARM has operations in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Products manufactured include cement, fertilizers, quicklime, hydrated lime, sodium silicate and other industrial minerals.{{cite web|url = http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539546/1130902/-/view/printVersion/-/n5xn8x/-/index.html|first = |last = M.W.|date = 2011|accessdate = 18 October 2014|newspaper = Business Daily Africa (Nairobi)|title = Athi River Mining Shrugs Off Pricing Pressure To Cement Its New-Found Position In The Market|publisher = Nation Media Group}} A new factory planned in Kitui, Kenya, is expected online in three to four years and will cost an estimated US$400 million to construct. Once operational, Kitui will increase ARM Cement Limited's production capacity to 5 million tonnes annually.{{cite web|title=ARM To Set Up A $400 Million Cement Plant In Kitui County|url=http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000104480/arm-to-set-up-a-400-million-cement-plant-in-kitui-county?pageNo=1|

first=Philip|last=Mwakio|date=12 February 2014|accessdate=18 October 2014|newspaper=The Standard (Kenya)}}

As of December 2013, the company's total assets were valued at US$340 million (KES:29.7 billion), with shareholders' equity of about US$94 million (KES:8.223 billion).{{cite web

|url=http://www.armafrica.com/public/arm-pdfs/arm-cement-annual-report-2013.pdf

|format=PDF

|title=ARM Cement Limited: Audited Annual Financial Report, 31` December 2013

|accessdate=18 October 2014

|publisher=ARM Cement Limited

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026034510/http://www.armafrica.com/public/arm-pdfs/arm-cement-annual-report-2013.pdf

|archivedate=26 October 2014

}} Currently the Kenyan Operations Taken over by National Cement Kenya (Simba cement) and the Tanzanian Operations by Huaxin Cement a chinese firm.

History

ARM was founded in 1974 by the late Harjivandas J. Paunrana as a producer of agricultural lime.{{Cite web|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrfyMwaX5rc|title = Mavuno Fertilizer|date = 2014-11-10|accessdate = 2015-12-24|website = |publisher = ARM|last = |first = }}

His son, Pradeep Paunrana, is the current Managing Director and CEO of the company. In Kenya, the company has factories in Mombasa and Athi River, where their first cement factory was established in 1994. Cement production at Athi River commenced in 1996.{{cite web| url=http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Pradeep-Paunrana/-/1248928/1990146/-/item/0/-/kq4sgv/-/index.html|title=It All Started With A Bunch of Keys|first=Jackson|last=Biko|date=12 September 2013|accessdate=17 October 2014|newspaper=Business Daily Africa (Nairobi)}}

Shareholding

{{asof|December 2014}}, the major shareholders in the company stock are as displayed in the table below:{{Cite web|url=http://www.armcement.com/public/arm-pdfs/2014-financial-report.pdf |title=ARM Cement 2014 Annual Report |date=31 December 2014 |accessdate=24 December 2015 |publisher=ARM Cement |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224225309/http://www.armcement.com/public/arm-pdfs/2014-financial-report.pdf |archivedate=24 December 2015 }}

class="wikitable sortable" style="margin: 0.5em auto"

|+ ARM Cement Limited Stock Ownership

! Rank !!Name of Owner!!Percentage Ownership

1Amanat Investments Limited28
2Paunrana Pradeep Harjivandas18
3CfC Stanbic Bank Nominees A/C Nr 015037
4ARM Cement Limited ESOP4
5Standard Chartered Nominees Non-Resident A/C: 93183
6Tannel World Limited1
7Standard Chartered Bank a/c Pan African unit linked Fund1
8Standard Chartered Nominees Account KE 179841
9Standard Chartered Nominees non-resident. a/c 9671
10Anjana Pradeep Paunrama1
11Others investors35
Total100.00

Company divisions

The company is divided into the following divisions:{{cite web|

url=http://www.armafrica.com/?page=armpltd|title=The Divisions of ARM Cement|date=|accessdate=18 October 2014|publisher=ARM Cement Limited}}

;Cement

The company brand, "Rhino Cement" is manufactured in Kaloleni and Athi River in Kenya, and at company owned factories in Tanga and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. ARM Cement maintains shareholding in Kigali Cement Company, a cement company in Rwanda and in a South African cement company.

; Mineral and Chemicals

The division is responsible for the manufacture of "Special Building Products, Sodium Silicate and Industrial Minerals.

; Fertilizers

This division produces fertilizer at the Athi River factory, under the brand "Mavuno Fertilizer".

; Rhino Foundation

Established in 2010, to invest in the communities where ARM Cement has a presence.

Financial distress

According to The EastAfrican newspaper, ARM Cement was placed into administration in 2018, due to its inability to service its debts and meet its day-to-day financial obligations. George Weru and Muniu Thoithi of PricewaterhouseCoopers were appointed as joint administrators. The Nairobi Stock Exchange suspended the trading of the company stock, on 8 May 2020.{{cite web| newspaper=The EastAfrican |title=Athi River Mining set for liquidation, delisting at the NSE |date=27 April 2021 |author=James Anyanzwa |access-date=27 April 2021 |

url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/business/athi-river-mining-set-for-liquidation-delisting-at-the-nse-3378368 |

location=Nairobi}}

After the sale of some of the company assets in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa, the joint administrators recommended the liquidation of the company, because the company assets could not fetch a price to match the amount owed to secured and unsecured creditors, in addition to shareholders. The liquidation process is expected to start on 30 September 2021. At the time ARM went into "receivership" on 18 August 2018, its total debt burden was approximately US$284 million.

See also

References

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