ASEC Cement Holding puts together new management team

ACH aims to have operations in seven countries with a combined production capacity of 18.5 million tons per annum (MTA) by 2012.

Heading up the new team will be former Italcementi Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Giorgio Bodo.

Italcementi is the fifth-largest cement producer in the world with 62 cement plants in 22 countries and an annual production capacity of 70 million tons. In Egypt alone, Italcementi produces 12.5 MTA.

Bodo, who assumed his new duties as managing director at the beginnig of May 2008, brings a wealth of experience to ACH. After an accomplished career in finance with organizations including the Bank of Italy and Fiat, Bodo joined Italcementi Group and Ciments Francais in 2004, becoming CFO of both companies.

Since 2006, he has been responsible for Group's M&A activities and was personally involved in the acquisition of major cement companies in Egypt including Suez Cement, among other regional activities.

Industry veteran Tarek El Gammal will be joining Bodo as ACH's Director of Strategic Planning. El Gammal is leaving a key post as CEMEX Puerto Rico's Strategic Planning, Marketing and Integrated Areas Director.

He has spent most of his career at CEMEX, one of the largest cement producers in the world with 66 plants in 50 countries and an annual production capacity of 93 MTA.

El Gammal previously served with CEMEX in Egypt, Spain and Germany, earning first-hand experience in both developed and emerging markets.

'Since its inception in 2005, ACH has been primarily focused on business development. The previous management team led by Managing Director Ahmed Khalifa had a mandate to build a platform for cement manufacturing in countries with the economic conditions to support the industry.

They have done a wonderful job in fullfilling their mandate and acquiring a lucrative basket of licenses to build greenfield cement plants in high-growth markets such as Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Sudan and Kurdistan,' said Citadel Capital Principal Abdalla ElEbiary.

'After Khalifa's decision to step down as managing director for health reasons, we are shifting the scope of the management team from business development to execution.

The new team will be utilizing a different skill-set to build on the achievements of their predeseccors, who have outperfromed on all their targets,' adds ElEbiary.

In addition to being exceptionally well-versed on the local, regional and international cement markets, both Bodo and El Gammal have access to a large talent pool within the international cement industry.

According to ElEbiary, their personal networks will serve ACH well as it continues its recruitment drive in the months ahead.