The board of Cementos del Caribe, the newly consolidated Colombian cement company, has asked its shareholders to back the issue of bonds to finance short, medium and long-term projects, local press reported. 
 
The shareholders assembly has approved the proposal and Cementos del Caribe may now issue up to 600bn pesos (US$262m) in long-term bonds at seven, 10 or 12 years. 
 
"The main objective is to replace short-term credit that the company has and finance projects that tend to optimize the plans, such as generation of electricity, cost reductions, environmental optimization projects and certain customer service improvements," Luis Fernando Vergara, CEO of the firm, was quoted as saying by El Heraldo. 
 
"Certain projects are already being carried out, such as those linked to the improvements in distribution," added Vergara. 
 
The company’s electricity generation plans are also progressing. The engineering phase has been concluded and now the firm is deciding what type of generating equipment it will use. 
 
Cementos del Caribe was recently formed by Grupo Argos by consolidating seven smaller firms: Cementos Paz del Río, Colclínker, Tolcemento, Cementos Rioclaro, Cementos del Valle, Cementos El Cairo and Cementos del Nare.