Mexican cement giant Cemex has hired Santander Investment to seek buyers for its 11.9 per cent stake in Chilean cement company Cementos Bío Bío, Chilean newspaper La Tercera reported. Cemex purchased its stake in 1999 for US$34m. The sale, according to sector experts, would be due to the refusal of Cementos’ majority stakeholder - Chile’s Briones group (43%) - to sell its stake, according to the paper.
Further, the sale, which could represent US$80m, would be part of Cemex’s reorganization of its international assets, said the report. Indeed, a few weeks ago Cemex concluded the sale of two of its US plants to Brazilian conglomerate Grupo Votorantim, and prior to that purchased British cement maker RMC.
