Taiwan company plans to buy Ukraine’s second-largest cement business for 750 million euros

A major Taiwanese company is looking to become the new owner of Ukraine’s second-largest cement business, Ivano Frankivsk Cement, located in western Ukraine, after its board of directors approved a deal worth up to 750 million euros ($855 million).

TCC Group Holdings, based in Taipei, plans to purchase a 100% stake in Ivano Frankivsk Cement and three other related companies, including roofing materials and dry mortar businesses, through its Dutch subsidiary, the company announced in a press release on Sept. 23.

The deal, which is still awaiting regulatory approval in Taiwan and Ukraine, would mark the biggest wartime deal in Ukraine’s cement sector and one of the largest private sector foreign investments during the full-scale war. The final price will be set once the deal is finalized.

Cement, a key ingredient in concrete, is a critical material for Ukraine's reconstruction to build housing, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, dams, and ports. War has left Ukraine with only three active cement producers that can't meet the 15–16 million metric tons of annual cement production that would be needed for its reconstruction.

TCC said the purchase would add Eastern Europe to the company’s cement map, alongside southern and western Europe, with the European market already accounting for 42% of its revenue. The deal would also strengthen the company’s position to lead Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction, it added.

The Taiwanese company stressed that it will bring its experience in low-carbon research and development to the plant as Europe imposed the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, known as CBAM, earlier this year. The policy adds an import charge on carbon-intensive goods coming from countries with lower or no carbon pricing.

Ivano Frankivsk Cement wrote that the sale will help the company meet Ukraine’s future reconstruction and development needs and implement modern technology and environmental standards. The company currently holds a 36% market share in Ukraine, with a production capacity of 4.3 million metric tons of cement per year and around 2,500 employees.

Despite the war, it has continued to operate, although domestic cement demand has dropped from 10.6 million tons before the war to just 6.2-6.5 million tons annually. In addition to supplying the Ukrainian market, the company exports to Poland, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia and Hungary.

Ivano Frankivsk Cement used to be the market leader until Irish company CRH acquired two additional plants from Dyckerhoff, a subsidiary of Italian cement company Buzzi, in 2024. Despite concerns from the construction industry that CRH would have a monopoly, Ukraine’s antitrust regulator greenlit the deal, giving CRH control of five of Ukraine’s eight active plants.

The deal, valued at 100 million euros ($114 million), raised concerns that a constricted market could allow cement producers to raise prices, resulting in higher costs for Ukraine’s reconstruction, which is valued at $588 billion over 10 years.

Russian aggression has hit Ukraine's cement industry hard over the last 12 years, swallowing three plants in occupied Donbas and Crimea.

More recently, Russian forces destroyed a plant belonging to Kharkiv-based company Baltsem in 2022 while the "Pushka" Kramatorsk cement plant, Donetsk Oblast, was seized by the Ukrainian government from its Russian owners and nationalized in 2023.